The Most Powerful Woman in the History of Ancient Rome
On January 30, 58 BC, the second daughter, Livia Drusilla, was born into the praetor Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus family. At 16, her parents married her off to the 43-year-old praetor from a patrician family, Tiberius Claudius Nero. During the civil war between the Caesarians and the supporters of Julius Caesar’s assassins, her father and husband sided with the latter, fighting against Octavian. After the defeat of the Republican faction at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, Livia’s father was forced to commit suicide, and she, along with her husband, had to flee Rome.
Initially, Tiberius and Livia moved to Sicily, but later, they had to seek refuge in Greece. They made all these journeys with their young son, Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born in November 42 BC. In 39 BC, Octavian August proclaimed an amnesty after achieving a final victory. Livia, pregnant with her second son, returned to Rome with her family. She met Octavian, of whom she had previously only heard bad things from her father, husband, and their friends. Like in a pulp romance novel, they were struck by sudden passion.
