Livia

In “The Armstrong and Nuffler Heads and the Portraiture of Julius Caesar, Livia, and Antonia Minor,” John Pollini discusses two little known basalt portraits of high quality. The Armstrong Head, representing an older male, may be an uncanonical portrait of Julius Caesar, while the Nuffler Head, representing a younger-looking female, is identifiable as an image of Augustus’ wife Livia. Because neither portrait obviously and unquestionably represents the individuals proposed, this essay also presents a new consideration of the portrait typologies of Caesar and Livia, as well as Antonia Minor, to whom the female head bears some resemblance. The Armstrong Head seems to be a portrait of Caesar that was freely interpreted by a Hellenistic sculptor working in Egypt at the very end of the Republic or in the earlier Augustan period, while the Nuffler Head of Livia was probably created some time after the death of her husband Augustus in A.D. 14. Since various factors indicate that both heads may originally have come from the same context, the Nuffler Head, which appears to have been created at a later date than the other sculpture, may have been added to a portrait group that already included the Armstrong Head. Both images have suffered damage consistent with their having been intentionally defaced, quite possibly by iconoclastic Christians who attacked the images of the polytheistic
peoples of the Empire during the Late Antique period. Caesar had been worshiped as a god, so images of him with other members of the Julio-Claudian family, especially if set up in a shrine like the Caesareum/Augusteum at Alexandria, would have been all the more likely targets of assault.

Tacitus portrays the wedding of Livia and Octavian as an abduction.  His interpretation contrasts with the other surviving sources, which are much less hostile.  Tacitus’ analysis comes into clearer focus when placed in the historiographical tradition on violence against women and political revolutions.  Often violations against women were viewed as excesses of tyrannical power and resulted in the offender being exiled or murdered and in a more democratic constitution for the state.  The abduction of Livia, however, coincided with a more authoritarian constitution at Rome.  Tacitus’ interpretation suggests that the Romans’ passive acceptance of Octavian’s abduction of Livia inaugurated a new autocracy at Rome.

Tiberius relation with the women of the domus Augusta would give birth to a dynasty. The way in which they were portrayed in the dynastic propaganda and involved in the dynastic politics of Tiberius, would find its expression in the sources.
In this paper we will show ample proof that the women of the domus Augusta were given a prominent place in the dynastic imagery and that this was vital for the birth of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. In part I we will discuss the different available sources on the women of the domus Augusta, after which we will examine, in part II, the different aspects of the role they have played and/or were expected to play within the domus Augusta, that more and more coincide with the res publica.
We shall see that the sources were diverse and widespread, and that the women of the domus Augusta were often depicted in terms of good and bad. Subsequently we shall see that the role of the women of the domus Augusta, during the reign of Tiberius, stem from Tiberius' need for a social network. As a result of his stay on Rhodos, his network had collapsed and he had to rebuild it.

Vipsania Agrippina seems to have played an important role in the dynastic as well as ideological field - being a daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Caecilia Attica. She gave birth to a descendant of the Julio-Claudian House and linked the old republic to the new one.
Her engagement (at a very young age) and later her marriage to Tiberius Claudius Nero linked in the first place her maternal grandfather Titus Pomponius Atticus with Tiberius' stepfather, Augustus. But moreover it also linked the plebeian Vipsanii to the patrician Claudii.
As mother of Drusus (from her marriage with Tiberius) she provided Augustus with a (adoption) grandson, who would adopt Tiberius, after Tiberius' adoption of Germanicus, the oldest son of his brother Drusus.
The second marriage of Vipsania Agrippina - with Gaius Asinius Gallus - also seems to have been favourable to Augustus, because it linked the Asinii to the Julio-Claudian house. The children from this marriage would, for their part, enter the political stage.
And through her the cognomen Agrippa was continued. One of her sons received this cognomen and a granddaughter beared the cognomen Agrippina.
She was honoured as mother of Drusus and grandmother of his twins. After her death her portrait occured in various parts of the empire and possible even on coins. She also seems to have been taking a prominent place on the Ara Pacis as wife of the consul of that year (Tiberius Claudius Nero), whoms colleague (Publius Quinctilius Varus) was married to her (half) sister.
She is, according to Tacitus, the only one of Agrippa's children who died a natural death, because she succeeded - in spite of her connections with the imperial family - to stay out of the restless waters of power. With her died one of the most prominent ladies of the late republic.

This paper aims at analyzing public activities of imperial women, who took part in the public life as euergetai and, as a reward, were entitled matres of the town and other such highly appreciated honours. This allowed them, too, to share the public sphere with their husbands, they were those with the posts of magistracy. We know the women had public actions that brought about positive economic and social benefits for the communities they was involved in.

Sono evidenti in Tacito le analogie tra i racconti della morte di Augusto nel 14 e di Claudio nel  54, in cui un ruolo centrale è giocato dalle rispettive coniugi, Livia e Agrippina, entrambe sospettate di aver avvelenato il marito per favorire l’ascesa al potere del proprio favorito; altrettanto scoperto è lo stretto parallelismo tra la descrizione che fa Tacito della morte di Augusto e il passo di Livio 1, 41, in cui si descrive l’ascesa al trono di Servio Tullio grazie ai maneggi di Tanaquilla.
Si ipotizza come proprio quest’ultimo personaggio femminile abbia costituito per Tacito il modello sul quale improntare la figura di Livia, tanto più che pare ravvisabile un legame Livia-Tanaquilla nel substrato culturale della prima età imperiale, come sembra confermato dai Fasti di Ovidio e da Giovenale. 
È Livia la figura con cui Tacito inaugura i ritratti delle potenti donne della casa imperiale.

This thesis is concerned with the foundations of Livia’s position in the Roman state. They are delineated by an investigation of important events of her life, the diverse privileges given to her, and the patterns that were established to enable subjects to express their loyalty to her and the imperial power. The study is based on a multifarious collection of material including literary texts, inscriptions, statues, coins, and gems. The material is organized, both theoretically and methodologically, according to the three principal roles Livia performed, viz. mater/uxor, patrona, and diva. The focus is on analysing how the content and enactment of these roles were transformed as a consequence of the development of the principate and Livia’s increasing status within it. The thesis has, therefore, a chronological structure and spans a hundred years, from Livia’s birth in 58 BCE up until her deification in 42 CE.
    The three roles provide the structure of this study and are discussed in one chapter each. In the concluding chapter they are placed side by side and a comprehensive view is taken of their chronological progression so as to present a thorough analysis of the stages in the formation of Livia’s position. A picture emerges of how female imperiality became a constituent part of the early principate, and how Livia was established as its princeps femina.

This paper aims to analyse the iconography of the dupondius issued by the emperor Claudius to celebrate the deification of Livia. This analysis will lead to an investigation of the close religious relationship associating the empress to the goddess
Ceres, and the reasons that induced to represent her on the reverse of the coin in the clothes of the divinity.

Die Quintilier sind zweifellos die berühmteste und am besten dokumentierte Familie aus Alexandria Troas. Insbesondere die letzten vier Generationen haben durch ihre Tätigkeit in der römischen Reichsverwaltung, ihre engen Verbindungen zu den Kaisern und Geistesgrößen ihrer Zeit, ihr literarisches Wirken sowie ihren ausgedehnten Villenbesitz mannigfaltige Spuren hinterlassen. Eine willkommene Bereicherung fand unser Quellenmaterial vor Kurzem durch drei neue Inschriften vom alexandrinischen Forum, die 2008 und 2016 von E. Schwertheim veröffentlicht wurden und Auskunft über zwei frühe, zuvor unbekannte Quintilier geben sowie einen nicht näher zu greifenden Κυιντίλ[ιος] der hohen Kaiserzeit nennen. +++ Damit sind inzwischen acht Familienmitglieder sicher bekannt: ein P. Quintilius Maximus und seine Tochter Quintilia Apphia in iulisch-claudischer Zeit, ein Sex. Quintilius Valerius Maximus und sein gleichnamiger Sohn in der Zeit von den Flaviern bis Hadrian sowie die beiden nachfolgenden und bekanntesten Generationen mit jeweils einem Sex. Quintilius Valerius Maximus und einem Sex. Quintilius Condianus in der Antoninenzeit. Hinzu kommt der Vater des ältesten Sex. Quintilius Valerius Maximus, von dem aber leider nur sein Vorname Sextus überliefert ist. +++ Die epigraphischen Neufunde nahm ich zum Anlass, die Familiengeschichte erneut aufzurollen und erstmals einen ausführlichen Gesamtüberblick in deutscher Sprache vorzulegen. Der bislang ungeklärten Frage nach der origo der Quintilier widmet sich der erste Abschnitt, der zwar keine eindeutige Antwort zu liefern vermag, aber zumindest drei mögliche Szenarien aufzeigt und diese hinsichtlich ihrer Plausibilität überprüft. Die nachfolgenden Ausführungen orientieren sich an der chronologischen Abfolge, wobei der fünfte Abschnitt auch eine Darstellung zum reichen Familienbesitz enthält. Die Schlussbemerkung richtet ihren Blick schließlich auf das Verhältnis zwischen den Quintiliern und ihrer langjährigen Heimatgemeinde Alexandria Troas.

The book is available to order from: https://reichert-verlag.de/schlagworte/altaegyptischer_stil_schlagwort/9783954902439_ancient_engraved_gems_in_the_national_museum_in_krakow-detail

This book is a catalogue raisonée of a rich collection of ancient engraved gems housed in the National Museum in Krakow. It offers a thorough insight into ancient glyptic art through the considerable range of almost 780 so far unpublished objects – cameos, intaglios, scarabs and finger rings of various styles, workmanship and cultural circles: Egyptian, Near Eastern, Minoan, Greek, Etruscan, Italic, Roman, Sassanian and early Christian, dated from the second millennium BC to the seventh century AD.

Many pieces in this cabinet are notable not only for their top quality in terms of craftsmanship and design, but also for the materials used and engravings involving complex iconography illustrating religious beliefs, political allegiances, needs and desires that ancient people wished to be fulfill, fears, dangers and terrors from which they sought protection and even their daily occupations. The collection provides with a fascinating gallery of portrait studies presenting Hellenistic rulers and their queens, Roman emperors and members of their families as well as some private individuals. Some specimens are exceptional and unparalleled like the onyx cameo portraying Drusus Maior, likely executed by the hand of Eutyches, son of famous Dioscurides (cover) or a tiny but remarkably cut emerald cameo with a laureate portrait bust of Livia Drusilla as goddess Venus. Some objects have been preserved in their original settings (gold, silver, bronze, iron rings), which contributes to the study of ancient gems’ chronology and indicate their users, while others have been later re-set into eighteenth- and nineteenth-century collectors’ rings and sometimes more elaborated mounts. There are also pieces discoloured due to contact with considerable heat, which may suggest them to have been burnt with other personal objects on the funeral pyres and later deposited in burials. Noteworthy is the number of Greek and Latin inscriptions appearing on intaglios and cameos forming this cabinet. They span from owners’ names to the subtle messages communicated between lovers and invocations to the God.

Each gem is thoroughly analysed, described and exhaustively commented as to the device it bears, chronology and possible workshop attribution. A vast number of parallel objects is referenced too. This combined with provenance study presented in the first part of the book enabled to establish where a number of intaglios and cameos were manufactured, including almost 140 objects most likely to origin from the most important Roman workshop located in Aquileia. It ought to be singled out that many gems in this volume once constituted a part of distinguished collections formed by such personalities as Tobias von Biehler, Alessandro Gregorio Capponi, Auguste le Carpentier, Alessandro Castellani, Comte de Caylus, Count Nikolai Nikitich Demidoff, Baron Albert de Hirsch, Jean François Leturcq, Sibylle Mertens-Schaaffhausen, Dr. George Frederick Nott, Benedetto Pistrucci, James-Alexandre de Pourtalès (Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier), Paul von Praun, Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky, Jacques Meffre Rouzan, Philipp von Stosch, Antonio Maria Zanetti and many more. They seemed lost for more than 130 years, but now have been brought back and are accessible to everyone. Consequently, the volume presents three intriguing stories of collectors whose donations contributed to the Krakow assemblage. They not only provide the reader with a sort of background for the objects discussed further, but also illustrate nineteenth- and early twentieth-century collecting practices and the art market for engraved gemstones, contributing to our knowledge of the history of scholarship and collecting. In summary, this book is intended to be useful not only for scholars interested in gems, but also those who study the history of the art market and collecting as well as all the enthusiasts of Classical art and archaeology.

Among the ancient authors who narrated the reign of Augustus and Tiberius, Cassius Dio is surely the one who dedicated the most space to the influence that Livia Drusilla exercised over both her husband and her son. In this regard, the foremost example is found in a large section where Dio narrates how Livia persuaded Augustus to forgive Cornelius Cinna for having plotted against his regime. Also, according to Dio, after the death of Augustus, Livia considerably increased her authority over the imperial government, trying not only to co-rule with her son, but also to become the sole effective ruler by controlling all his political activities. Some scholars have suggested that Dio probably exaggerated the role played by Livia because of the similar extraordinary power enjoyed by his contemporaries Julia Domna and the other Syrian women who lived during the Severan age. A close examination of Dio's passages dedicated to Livia reveals no traces of situations that could refer to his contemporary political situation. The statements of the Bithynian historian and senator concerning Livia are normally well detailed because he made use of good sources. Indubitably, Livia's strong influence was fundamental in shaping the reign of both Augustus and Tiberius. Even two centuries later, while Severus was trying to depict his regime as a new golden era on the model of Augustus, Julia Domna followed the example of Livia on many occasions. Nevertheless, Dio does not seem to be aware of these analogies and his work appears to be characterized by a mere record of facts rather than an investigation of their real power within the imperial court.

Starting from Ovid's references (ex Ponto II 8 and IV 9) to the presence  of five imagines of Augustus, Livia, Tiberius, Germanicus and Drusus Minor  in his domestic sacrarium at Tomi, the paper aims to discuss the presence of the imperial portraits in a domestic context and to examine the spread of small busts depicting the dynasty in the Julio-Claudian age. Therefore, Ovid's small shrine stands out for its precocity and importance. It allows  to recognize to the poet a coherent role of facilitator for the dynastic ideology in Moesia. So, it seems difficult to see as ironic his verses.

En el presente artículo se repasa el papel que ejercieron las familiares femeninas en la vida de Germánico, candidato frustrado al trono imperial, desde su nacimiento hasta su muerte, así como las distintas actuaciones de aquellas en la domus y en la política del principado, según la visión ofrecida por la historiografía altoimperial.

This paper reviews the role of female relatives in the life of Germánicus, a frustrated candidate for the imperial throne, from birth to death, as well as his different actions from those in the domus and in imperial policy, according to the vision offered by altoimperial historiography.

The so-called Marlborough turquoise depicts a Venus-like wom-an and a male figure. The latter has been the subject of much debate. We can discern two main questions: "Does the figure represent a bust or a child?" and "Who is this male figure?"

Resumen

En este texto se analizan los ejemplos de Livia y Agripina la menor, cuyas biografías pueden mostrar cómo las mujeres se sirvieron del rol materno para intervenir en asuntos públicos. Sus vidas son relevantes porque emergen en un momento de profundos cambios en la Roma antigua, como fue la época de Augusto, quien estableció un poder dinástico en la sociedad romana. Por primera vez, en la historia occidental emergen atractivos y poderosos personajes femeninos que se implican en la gestión de los asuntos públicos y lo hacen desde su posición de madres. Sus actuaciones no dejaron de provocar ciertos recelos y temor, ya que su intromisión en espacios tradicionalmente masculinos suponía una inversión de roles, que podía poner en peligro el modelo social, claramente defensor de la primacía de los varones. En este ambiente han de comprenderse las imágenes del poder femenino que representaron, entre otras mujeres de su tiempo, Livia y Agripina; una influencia que se percibía como peligrosa, y que ha nutrido representaciones de las mujeres poderosas hasta etapas bien recientes.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the cases of Livia and Agrippina the Younger, whose biographies can show how women took advantage of their maternal role in order to intervene in political issues. Their lives are relevant because they lived in a period of deep changes in Ancient Rome; in particular, the time of Augustus, who established a dynastic power in Roman society. For the first time in Western history, there stood out powerful and attractive female figures that became involved in the management of public issues, and they did so from their position as mothers. Their behavior provoked fear and distrust, as their intrusion on spaces that had been traditionally deemed as masculine implied a case of role-reversal that could endanger the social model, clearly designed in defense of male superiority. In this environment, Livia and Agrippina, among other women of their period, offered the image of female power, an influence that was perceived as being dangerous, but that has also been used in representations of powerful women till recent times.

J.Linderski, The Mother of Livia Augusta and the Aufidii Lurcones of the Republic, Historia 32, 1974, 463-480 = RQ 1995, 262-280 + addenda 653 = addenda altera RQ II, 2007, 621.

Franz Steiner Verlag is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte.

In dem Beitrag werden fünf unedierte Grabinschriften aus Rom vorgelegt. Es handelt sich um tabellae columbarii, die wohl überwiegend im 1. Jahrhundert v. und im 1. Jahrhundert n. Chr. angefertigt wurden. Unter den Verstorbenen befindet sich eine Freigelassene, die ehemals zum Haushalt der Kaisergattin Livia gehörte.

Convertida en un símbolo de la maldad, la imagen de Livia Drusila ha sido difamada y manipulada desde la antigüedad por sus propios coetáneos. A pesar de la imagen peyorativa transmitida en torno a su figura, numerosos restos escultóricos han sobrevivido al tiempo y nos permiten hacernos una idea de la visión que el pueblo romano de la Baetica desarrolló en torno a esta gran dama. El advenimiento del principado necesitó de un aparato propagandístico responsable de expandir la ideología de la nueva era romana. En este proceso el poder de las imágenes adquirió un carácter masivo y sistemático al servicio de la familia imperial, y la primera emperatriz reforzó su imagen fusionada con la de su esposo y el resto de la familia imperial. Insertada en esta política ideológica, Livia Drusila vio su figura politizada y mediatizada de acuerdo a los intereses gubernamentales.

Convertida en un símbolo de la maldad, la imagen de Livia Drusila ha sido difamada y manipulada desde la antigüedad por sus propios coetáneos. A pesar de la imagen peyorativa transmitida en torno a su figura, numerosos restos escultóricos han sobrevivido al tiempo y nos permiten hacernos una idea de la visión que el pueblo romano de la Baetica desarrolló en torno a esta gran dama. El advenimiento del principado necesitó de un aparato propagandístico responsable de expandir la ideología de la nueva era romana. En este proceso el poder de las imágenes adquirió un carácter masivo y sistemático al servicio de la familia imperial, y la primera emperatriz reforzó su imagen fusionada con la de su esposo y el resto de la familia imperial. Insertada en esta política ideológica, Livia Drusila vio su figura politizada y mediatizada de acuerdo a los intereses gubernamentales.

The earliest extant depiction of Livia as a poetic figure comes in Ovid's exilic poetry.
Dubbed femina princeps by the poet, her portrayal has been dismissed as "sickeningly fulsome" (Barrett 234), whilst others see her character primarily as an object of very advanced Ovidian criticism (Johnson 405-406). Yet many such readings seem to assume a Tacitean bias into Ovid's diegesis, resulting in cynical readings that neglect the tradition concerning similar characters. I would like to suggest that an analysis of the character actually represented in the exilic poetry reveals a very different picture: an able, powerful semi-divine leader, depicted in a way befitting the literary tradition surrounding such a figure.
Though mentioned by name only six times in the Tristia and Ex Ponto, Livia's appearances underpin the entirety of the exilic corpus as she comes to represent the force of imperial power post-Augustus. Ovid represents Livia within a cross-section of Augustan roles— wife (Tr. 2.1; Ex. P. 2.8, 3.3), priestess (Tr. 4.2; Ex. P. 4.13), divinity (Ex. P. 3.1, 4.13). These distinct yet interrelated positions focalize her character as the unmistakable centre of the imperial family and its power; Ovid gives attention to her relationships with her son and husband, her role as priestess and thus central point of religious importance, and her gradual incorporation into the divine framework. I argue all these points are carefully calculated to parallel in a narrative sense, and set her equal to, Augustus himself.
Ovid adeptly represents this diegetic 'augustanization' of Livia, creating a complex but balanced character whose significant features and roles are drawn directly from the world surrounding him. Even a cursory review of numismatic and epigraphic evidence, such as that documented by Barrett and Pandey, from Rome's provinces demonstrates Livia's widespread influence and image. It seems plausible to assert these depictions may have influenced Ovid's
portrayal of Livia. Ultimately, I argue that Ovid's femina princeps, as a combination of existing literary tradition with contemporary influences, demonstrates the political prowess and contemporary reception of its inspiration whilst remaining an integral part of the poetic narrative.

Summary: The purpose of this study is to examine, from a rational point of view, the story occurred in the year 42 BC and related by Pliny and Suetonius. According to these roman authors, a very young Livia Drusilla (future wife of Octavius) at the age of 15-16 years and being pregnant carried out and oomantic ceremony, in order to guess the sex of the  child she was carrying and make sure it was a boy. For this purpose the narration says that she had taken a chicken egg – as a simulation of the fetus – which had been incubated within her, extra corpore, until it hatched out showing a baby-bird with an enormous red cockscomb. This
image was a sign referred to the baby who was coming to life: Tiberius. In political terms, we retroactively situate the formation of this genethliacal myth in the year 2 AD, coinciding with the return of the emperor Tiberius back to Rome from his voluntary exile in Rhodes, “the
golden island”. This episode operates as a metaphor for a “new birth” and for its incorporation, initially unfortunate, to the political scene.

Upper-level / capstone course on the political and social history, art, archaeology, and literature of Augustan Rome (during the transition from Republic to Principate). Special consideration is given to the creation of the principate, the rise of emperor worship, the professionalization of the military, the increasing role and influence of women in politics, and the establishment of imperial governance. Includes research in, and critical analysis and writing about, primary sources. Concludes with directed research project.

La Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma, volendo onorare il bimillenario augusteo, ha saggiamente colto l'occasione per celebrare la divina Augusta, portando a termine il restauro e il riallestimento della fondamentale Villa di Livia a Prima Porta.