Livia (58 BC-29 AD) was an influential consort of Augustus, architect of the Roman Empire, who was depicted in imperial propaganda as the embodiment of womanliness and dedication, while her enemies believed her to be a ruthless seeker of power.

As mistress of the Roman world, Livia's private life was lived in public. Acting as a moral example of her husband's imperial ideology, she served Augustus as helpmate, sounding-board, conveyor of messages-off-the-record and as foster mother to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She also successfully secured the throne for her own son by a previous marriage.

On both sides of her family, Livia was the descendant of Roman senators. Her father Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus was, as his name shows, a member of the Claudian family who was adopted by Livians. Such adoption of an adult, or nearly adult, male heir into a line which lacked one was quite common...