Livia
Subtitle: First Lady of Imperial Rome
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 464
ISBN-13: 9780300091960
Subjects: Biography: historical; Biography: political; European history: BCE to c 500 CE; Women's studies; BCE to c 500 CE; Ancient Rome - History; Women - Ancient History; History; Biography / Autobiography; History: World; Ancient Rome; Ancient - Rome; Historical - General; Women; Biography & Autobiography / Historical; Augustus, 30 B.C.-14 A.D; Biography; Empress, consort of Augustus,; Empress, consort of Augustus, Emperor of Rome,; Empresses; Livia,; Rome; ca. 58 B.C.-29 A.D
First sentence: The expulsion of the last hated king from Rome, an event dated traditionally to 510 BC, ushered in a republican form of government that was to endure for more than four centuries and which was regarded by later Romans, especially those from the elite levels of society, with pride and an often naive nostalgia.
Description: "Livia (58 B.C. - A.D. 29) - wife of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, and mother of the second, Tiberius - wielded power at the center of Roman politics for most of her long life. Livia has been portrayed as a cunning and sinister schemer who eliminated her opponents, both within her own family and outside of it. In this biography (the first in English devoted to her), Livia emerges as a much more complex individual - a woman who skillfully won the support and even affection of her contemporaries, and who was widely revered after her death." "Barrett here examines Livia's life and her role in Roman politics. He recounts her marriage to Augustus at the age of nineteen; her essential contributions to Augustus' initially tenuous position as ruler; her unprecedented authority during his reign; and her conflicts with Tiberius, who was unwilling to concede to his mother the kind of authority that Augustus had intended for her. Livia's remarkable life spanned two reigns that established the pattern of government for the Roman empire over the next four centuries."--BOOK JACKET.