Biography

"(58 BCE - 29 CE) was the third wife of emperor Augustus of Rome, mother of emperor Tiberius, and grandmother of emperor Claudius. She was one of the great women in history who achieved prominence living in the shadow of a strong leader, serving silently as his advisor and confidant. Supportive of her husband’s reform policies, as well as turning a blind eye to his infidelities, she served the empire as a symbol of the loyal Roman wife, yet behind the scenes at the imperial court, she spent much of her adult life ensuring her son’s future as heir to Augustus’s throne whether he wanted it or not." from Ancient History Encyclopedia

William Seward mentions an imagined conversation with the "statue of Livia" in a letter to his wife Frances, written August 23, 1859 on a visit to Pompeii, "I talked with Livia the Priestess whose statue I found there, on the probable efficacy of the sacrifices she was directing."