Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome

by Anthony A. Barrett

This is the first biography in English of one of Rome's most famous and infamous women, Livia (58 BC-AD 29), wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius, who dominated imperial politics for decades. The first half of the study presents a chronological history of her extraordinary life followed by a thematic exploration of her groundbreaking role which was a continuous source of contention between Livia and Tiberius. Almost half of the book comprises appendices, sources and notes, leaving the first part of the study more accessible to general readers. This is a scholarly work which strives to correct the lasting impression that Robert Graves has left of a manipulative murderess.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Roman History, Italy, Womens

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Anthony A. Barrett is Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia and visiting professor at the University of Heidelberg.

Reviews

[Fred Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livia is one of the few women of antiquity about whom we know enough for a book-length biography.
And still not the kind of biography that is written about modern figures. We don't have archival collections of letters, diaries, etc. by Livia and her contemporaries; much of what we know is entirely on the surface. The well-known Livia of Graves' I, Claudius is a conniving poisoner. There is little historical evidence for that, only gossip and innuendo from Tacitus. Barrett strips away the sensational fabrications to give a balanced account based on all the available sources. Livia was a survivor, living to almost 87 in an era when the average life expectancy was well below half of that and many of the Roman aristocracy did not survive the long civil wars. She spanned the end of the Republic and the formative years of the empire; much of that time she was enormously influential behind the scenes.

The book falls into three parts: a chronological narrative, a series of topical chapters (private life, L as wife of Augustus, L as mother of Tiberius, social and political relationships, etc.), and extensive appendices on the sources, chronological problems, etc. The narrative is very readable and Barrett clearly explains anything that a general reader likely wouldn't know.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok I admit that everything I know about Livia I learned from I Claudius. The entire point of this book seemed to be that everything in I Claudius was WRONG. As a historian I can understand how frustrating it must be to be a professor and have to explain to your students again and again that you shouldn't get your history from television (even BBC dramas from back in the day). But unfortunatley the author seemed to be so intenet on dis-proving popular conceptions of Livia he lacked any other thesis or further information.

It's always interesting to go and read books, particularly academic press books, on other subjects other than my speciality to see how historians in other fields are writing, what techniques they use etc. Unfortuantely the author of this book didn't seem to have done any of that. He seemed not to have read any books on women's history and different interpretations of history but seemed soley intent on writing "what really happened" looking for an absoulte truth where none was obtainable. He was very critical of the Roman historical sources, he would refer to them as "literary" sources not historical as they didn't fit his idea of what "proper history" was. He would dismiss huge sections of the sources saying how he couldn't believe something like that could be true while taking their word on other topics. Later in the appendix he goes through the different writer and gives his impressions of them and what they wrote and his opinion on what was fact and what wasn't. But for me he totally missed the bigger picture of WHY they were writing what they wrote. The most critical historian of Livia was also the one who said how the senate heaped rewards and offerings on her and made her a goddess. A very interesting dichotomy. Whose opinions were the writer's reflecting? If it didn't happen why did people say it did? What were the similarities? Did they write based on different representations of her or were they purely the writers own invention? It would have told us so much more to learn why these different discussions were taking place rather than simply dismissing them out of hand as "not actually true".

The book was split into two parts, the first a dry account of Livia's life, but mostly that of her relatives and what they did while Livia was alive. The secound half tries and put in more of a social context but I felt like I only got glimpses into what she as like and what people thought of her. I know she likes a specific type of wine and drank it every day, she liked herbal medicines, she was a reputed to be a match for Augustus, she had a reputation for being chaste (despite being married twice). The Senate loved her (despite all the rumours that spread about her). She was worshipped as a goddess for at least two centuries after her death.

The best thing about this book was in the appendix it gave a list of all the sources that mention her, and a brief overview of what they said about her.

I was quite disappointed in this book. I know that two biographies of Livia came out close to each other. I thought the academic press would be much better than the popular history but I was quite disappointed. I did learn things, and particularly in the appendix I learned the most but I feel like this work needs to be re-done in the hands of a good expert in woman's history. That way you'd be able to see where Livia fit into the bigger scheme of things. How represenatitve she was and all the ways that she wasn't and all the things that made her special and interesting. The author actually didn't seem to like her much. He mentioned how she'd stayed married to August for over 40 years without a child, when he was busy passing reforms saying women should give birth or divorce, saying how they stayed together and how people wrote very highly of her. But he seemed totally baffled as to why this was. In many ways it was a worse treatment than the Roman historians who accused her of many crimes. At least they saw her as capable and powerful and interesting. I'm glad I got this book from the library though I think I will copy out some of the references before I hand it back.

[Sally Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, as others have said, is NOT for the casual reader. I've been reading intensively on Ancient Rome for decades and I didn't have a problem with it, but YMMV. At least there's no giant clumps of untranslated Latin and Greek, everything's translated/explained (Glaring at you, stodgy Victorian men).

There were a LOT of quotes/facts I'd never come across before, and as far as I could tell, completely legit. Great research.

Basically: Everything you know about Livia from "I, Claudius" is wrong. He compares and contrasts the usual sources, sifting out what's probably true, what's true, what's wrong, and who's got which political agenda. As well as the age-old problem of men thinking they're the only ones with savvy political instincts. He gives several different interpretations of various events.

Starts slow (I got stuck for several days) but picks up interest. The appendices synthesize evidence through different spheres of economy/society in a way I hadn't seen before.

I am still holding onto my DVDs; no matter what, Livia will always look like Sian Phillips to me, just less murderous.

[Linniegayl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is divided into two parts (setting aside the large appendices). The first part is in chronological order, covering the period of time when Livia was alive. The second part touches on themes related to Livia: (1) the private Livia; (2) the wife of the Emperor; (3) Mother of the Emperor; (4) Woman of Substance; (5) Friend, Patron, and Protector; and (6) Death and reputation.

One of the problems I had with the format of the book, is there seemed to be a lot of overlap. The author would talk about a particular incident during the chronology, and then reference us to one of the later thematic chapters. I would have been happier either with all chronology, fleshed out a bit, or all themes.

It seems as if much of the book touches on the period after Augustus dies, and Tiberius plays a prominent role, along with his relationship with Livia. Oddly, I feel I know more about Tiberius after reading this book than I do about Livia.

Ultimately, it was okay, but not one of my favorites.

[Blue Raven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter garbage. Barrett’s arguments are weak and often deliberately misleading to avoid painting Livia and Tiberius in a negative light.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sleeve of this book contains a review which says, "as appealing to the general reader as it is satisfying to the scholar." I think I would recommend this work more for the student of Classical history than for the general reader. 'Livia-First Lady of Imperial Rome' is clearly a well researched biography, one that you would expect from it's author, Anthony A. Barrett, professor of Classics.
I found that I needed to exercise all powers of concentration to stay with this one. The genealogy of the Julii/Claudian tree is something of a tangled web of divorces,second marriages and inter familial connections that not surprisingly ended with the likes of Emperor Nero.
Livia, wife of Octavian/Augustus enjoyed a life span of almost ninety years, yet is no easy subject of study. Barrett has a profound understanding of the classical sources and expertly interprets the writings of Philo,Ovid,Seneca,Pliny the Elder,Suetonius,Dio and Tacitus. The Julii/Claudian dynasty is a conspiracy theorists dream, it was two thousand years ago and it largely remains so today, from the assassination on the Ides of March all the way to Claudius' mushrooms. Yet this biography makes valiant efforts to untangle the intrigue and paint the matriarch in more favourable colours.
The book is something of a monster too. After the two hundred plus pages of the bio, the reader then encounters nineteen appendices. Appendix 1 covering the sources extends a further seventy pages! Add the list of abbreviations, forty pages of Notes and the extensive Bibliography and there is not much change from four hundred pages.
I concur with Mary Beard's review "first rate" it is, but maybe somewhat heavy going for the general reader.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the author's note at the beginning of this book I almost didn't read it. The reason is that the book isn't written in a traditional format. Instead of relating the life of Livia chronologically, the author examines her by life in separate subjects like her wealth, her political role, etc. and each chapter has its own chronology. It sounded confusing but, in this case it worked incredibly well.

The book delves deep into what we know and theorize about Livia's life and examines the evidence and rumors carefully. At the same time the author provides an exceptional of how the government as and interpersonal relationships functioned and changed in the late Republic and early Principate.

One of my favorite parts of the book is in the Appendixes. In this section the author actually lists all publish artifacts directly related to Livia. He provides information on their discovery and discusses those of questionable authenticity.

Despite the format and level of detail, the book was still easy to read.

[Oli Turner]

#livia by #anthonyabarrett published in 2002. A biography of the wife of #augustus split into three parts. First part details the known chronology of her life and historical context. The Second part includes a number of thematic essays drawing examples from various parts of the chronology. The Third part includes a discussion on the merits and critiques of the sources available and any perceived bias plus appendices discussing areas of interest that fall outside the chronology of part one. Arguably structured this way so it doesn’t interrupt the narrative flow. I have not seen a non-fiction book structured quite like this. I thought it was quite novel and I appreciated it despite some of the anecdotes being repeated. There was also a particularly interesting chapter about her wealth and property.

[Jim Bogue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barrett does a very professional job of taking what (little) we actually know about Livia and putting it into a life. He regards her as an important and, to her husband Augustus, useful woman who in her over 80 years of life made a huge mark on Rome.
The author pores over literary sources, inscriptions, and archaeological sources to back up his points. In a series of often lengthy appendixes he argues specific points.

[Jiawei He · Rating 4 out of 5]

Information is presented clearly. I agree with most of the author's opinions, except the part about Postumus’ death.
Livia is misinterpreted a lot in latter historical records and literature. The author tries his best to distinguish the true from the false amidst a multitude of rumors, it's hard to do it perfectly, but the works are impressive.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy enough read but the second part, on Livian Themes, is better and more interesting than the first part, as the source material (as expected) for the biography is pretty limited and not particularly enlightening.

[Artemis Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a great book, which gives a great picture of who this amazing woman really was!

[Ella]

Read for Latin 101.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livia is one of my favourite historical figures, so I was excited to read a full lenght biography all about her. Barrett's work is noteworthy, but it took me a while to get into it and I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, especially if you are new to Ancient Rome history or to non-fiction books.

The first part recounts Livia's life, but it wasn't all that interesting. Barrett makes some good points, especially his defence of Livia against the accusations of poisoning and murdering; however, for the most part it seems he focuses too much on the other people in Livia's life, while she remains in the background.

The second part, which explores Livia's personality in more depht, is way better and made the whole book for me. Despite the fact that it's impossible to say for certain how Livia truly was, Barrett makes a fair and compelling portrayal of her, highlighting her intelligence and political acumen, and making a good hypothesis of how her private relationship with Augustus was. The part where he talks about Augustus's enigmatic adoption of Livia and what it meant for Tiberius and the Romans was particularly interesting.

Lastly, the appendices are very well done and worth a read.

[Leigh-ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I recently reviewed the new biography of Cleopatra, I noted that at least half the book was comprised of endnotes and bibiographies because there just isn't a lot of information about women from ancient history, no matter how powerful they were. So it goes for Livia. The wife of emperor Octavian (Augustus), and related to future emperors Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, only appears in recorded history because of her famous male relatives. It's almost impossible to tell her story without first telling the story of the men in her life, so even in her own biography she's a minor character. I don't know if I learned anything new about her (vs. what I'd already been exposed to in reading separately about the various emperors), but the author is unique in portraying her sympathetically. He interprets her actions as supportive and loyal, whereas she usually comes across as controlling (to put it mildly).

The book gives a lot of detail about the roles women were supposed to adhere to, and the expectations of what was proper behaviour for a female/wife (in summary: bear children, cook, weave, and be supportive, sort of like June Cleaver, but in a toga). As wife of the emperor, Livia's official, public "job" was to be the epitome of a proper, virtuous partner and she filled that position admirably. In private, her close relationship with Augustus -- based on mutual respect -- allowed her to have some influence on his policies and decisions, and the author explores the areas where Livia undoubtedly left her mark. There's a detailed section on Livia's relationship with the Vestals and how she may have influenced Augustus to modify their power and privileges, for example. There are anecdotes about Livia intervening to convince Augustus to show leniency for certain individuals facing punishment (in one case, she assists a wife whose husband is on the proscription list and undoubtedly saves his life). These stories aren't part of any official record, of course, as it would have been unseemly for Livia to be knowingly influencing/suggesting public policy. The author does an excellent job of piecing together clues from a number of sources, from historians of the era to private letters that have survived, and his interpretations are well-supported and logical.

I think one of the most fascinating aspects of Livia's life is that Augustus *adopted* her after his death, via instructions in his will, thus making her both his wife and his daughter. The author offers his own theories as to why Augustus took this step, but admits that any interpretation suffers because nothing is known about Roman adoption rules as they applied to women, so we'll never know what new privileges or rights this may have conferred on Livia, or what Augustus' intentions were when he took this step. There isn't even any record of Livia's reaction to the news. The story of the posthumous adoption can be found in any biography of Augustus, so it unfortunately reinforces the fact that this is a 400+ page book with very little new material about its main character. It's as much a book about the lives of women in the Roman empire and the lives of Augustus and Tiberius as it is about Livia, and that's a disappointment.

I feel comfortable recommending this book to any Roman history buff, and it's an appropriate (albeit, slightly dry) read for someone who wants to learn about the time period from a perspective other than the one offered in typical emperor biographies. On the other hand, if the reader has no prior knowledge of Roman history it could be a bit confusing trying to keep all the players straight because they so often share names. I definitely recommend this for anyone interested in influential women in history, because even though it's light on specific biographical information as compared to a profile of someone from the last century, it's still the only information available and there are very few influential female figures from this time period. Even if you only browse the book in passing, be sure to check out the colour photographs of Livia on coins, jewelry, and in sculpture... some of the images were new to me, and it was nice to see them all in one place.

[Cateline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've wavered between a two and three star rating for Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome by Anthony A. Barrett. Finally, on account of his exhaustive research I've come down on a three star rating.

Apparently there is not much in the way of hard evidence as to Livia's personality or actions. Barrett makes it very clear that historians Tacitus', Seneca and Suetonius et als are torn, and conflicting in their portrayal of Livia. The former being the most acid and hostile to Livia.

Barrett begins his biography by devoting paragraphs to speaking of Robert Graves' portrayal of Livia in I, Claudius and Claudius the God, including the BBC filming of same. He states (correctly) that Sian Phillips's portrayal of Livia was so strong, it has taken over popular opinion as the "real" Livia. There is a great deal of truth in what he says. However as far as I am concerned, Barrett has done very little to counteract that picture.

He states time after time (ad nauseam) that there is no verifiable proof of Livia being a poisoner as stated in Graves books. Every step of the way though, Barrett backs up the verifiable events as seen in Graves work. There is nothing to counteract those assumptions of being a poisoner. And, I hasten to admit, as far as I can tell, they are assumptions. We have no forensic proof that Livia poisoned the ones she was accused of poisoning in Graves books. As Barrett presents her Livia did in fact, have motive and opportunity to commit those crimes that she has been accused of.

Livia is presented by Barrett as being the epitome of Roman Womanhood, an example to be followed in every way. Loyal, and doing everything possible to support her husband. Let us also remember that Octavian/Augustus ran roughshod over many to become Emperor, and was politically savvy and an opportunist.

From the Preface:
"One of the burdens shouldered by the modern historian is that of correcting false impressions created by the popular media, particularly dangerous when a production is distinguished and the performances brilliant. This process usually involves the thankless task of demonstrating pedantically that, contrary to popular belief, truth is rarely stranger than fiction, and is usually far less exciting."

Barrett seems to have shot himself in the foot in my view, as he doesn't prove anything, and is far too repetitive, and far too (his word) pedantic.

In fact, as far as I am concerned, methinks the historian doth protest too much.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Professor Barrett cautions that Livia, first lady of the Roman Empire, was a much different person than the evil virago portrayed by Robert Graves in the novel I, CLAUDIUS and, I add, by Sian Phillips in the BBC series of the same name. But both the novel wirter and the actress did such a fabulous job with the fictional Livia that I am hard put to remove “her” from this thorough [really thorough:] biography of the wife of Caesar Augustus. I was partially successful.

Barrett’s academe flooded every page. Many places read like an intense bibliographic essay, with citations and supplements and pros-and-cons piled on every statement. His nineteen appendices and index took up just a little less than half the book’s 425 pages. Thorough, indeed.

However, it was anything but dull. Tedious perhaps, more than I really cared to know or consider, but a consistently interesting portrayal and discussion of one of the chief females [of course there weren't that many “chief” females in that male-dominated culture:] of imperial Rome and the sources, slim and often ambiguous as they are, that came down to us.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid look at the actual life of Livia, wife of the emperor Augustus, as opposed to the sensationalized version I, Claudius made so popular. The real Livia seems to have crafted herself a solid image as the epitome of the respectable Roman matron, while keeping her real cleverness out of the public eye, for which her great-grandson Caligula memorialized her with the bon mot 'Ulysses in a stola'. The research on the subject seems solid, but the book itself could be better organized. It is split into two parts- the first a more or less coherent biographical account of Livia's life, the second broken into thematic chapters dealing with various facets of her influence and perception of her. The problem is that since the number of ancient sources is limited, it is a bit difficult to stretch what's there in this fashion without being repetitive- some passages appear to be repeated verbatim in both sections of the book. I appreciated the appendix in which the author gave his assessment of the various ancient authors who wrote about Livia, including their motivations and interests, and how that might affect the reliability of their information about her.

[Vicki Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very scholarly look at the life of Livia, the wife of Augustus, Rome's first emperor. She is probably most famous for being the villainess in I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Barrett provides a much more even-handed portrait. The book is divided into three main sections. The first is a chronological look at her life and the second deals with various themes, such as Mother of the Emperor and Friend, Patron and Protector. The final section is a very long and extensive set of appendices (19 in all), the main one being a detailed look at the sources - literary, artistic (sculptures, etc.) and numismatic - for her life. All in all this is a very good look at the beginnings of the hereditary Roman empire and the role Livia played in it.

[Rozonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough and interesting analysis of Livia's life which turns out to be very different from fictional portraits of her. Truth is way less exciting than fiction, but even so,this is a very interesting book.

[Shell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will read this again soon to get more detail.