Livia in Roman Biography

Liv i-a, |Fr. Livie, le've',}- or, more fully, Livl-a Dru-sil'la, a Roman empress, born in 58 B.C., was first married to Tiberius Nero. After becoming the mother of Tiberius and Drusus Germanicus, she was married in 38 B.C. to the emperor Augustus, over whom she acquired an ascendency which she retained until his death. She persuaded him to adopt her son Tiberius as his successor. By his last will he appointed Livia and Tiberius his heirs, and directed her to assume the name of Julia Augusta. She was a woman of superior talents. Died in 29 a.d. See J. D. Koehler, "Dissertatio de Livia Augusta,*' 1715; Tacitus, " Annales," i. and v. ; "Nouvelle Biographic Gene>ale."