From N.S. Gill,
Your Guide to Ancient / Classical History.
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Definition: Livia was the first empress of Rome, the wife of the first emperor, Augustus, and mother of the second emperor, Tiberius (42 B.C. - A.D. 37). Livia (Julia) was long-lived and very influential.

Livia Drusilla (58 B.C. - A.D. 29), the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudius, married Tiberius Claudius Nero, her cousin, when she was 15 or 16. She was already the mother of the future emperor, Tiberius Claudius Nero, and pregnant with Nero Claudius Drusus (38 B.C. - 9 B.C.) when Octavian, who needed the political connections of Livia's family, arranged for her to be divorced. They then married on January 17, 38. Drusus and Tiberius lived with their father until his death in 33 B.C.

Octavian, who became the Emperor Augustus in 27 B.C., honored his wife with statues and public displays. However, instead of naming Drusus or Tiberius as heirs, he acknowledged his grandchildren Gaius and Lucius, sons of his daughter Julia by his previous marriage to Scribonia.

When, by 4 A.D., his grandsons had both died, Augustus had to look elsewhere. He wanted to name Germanicus, son of Livia's son Drusus, as his successor, but he was too young. Tiberius was Livia's favorite, and Augustus finally turned to him, with provision made for Tiberius to adopt Germanicus as his heir.

Augustus died in 14 A.D. According to his will Livia became a part of his family and was entitled to be called Julia Augusta from then on.

Julia Augusta exerted strong, but unwelcome influence on her son Tiberius. After the emperor Tiberius left Rome, he would not even return for her funeral in 29 A.D.

Julia Augusta was deified by her grandson Claudius in A.D. 41.

Also Known As: Livia Drusilla, Julia Augusta