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Livilla

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Livilla


Livilla was the daughter of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia and sister to Germanicus and the future Emperor Claudius. While Livilla was reported to be a rather common appear child, she is said to have grown into a beautiful woman.

Livilla was married to Drusus, the son of the Emperor Tiberius. She bore him several children inclusing a daughter named Julia and a pair of twins. Sometime in 23 BC, Livilla became the lover of the ambitious Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, Sejanus. Together they plotted to take the throne for themselves and Livilla assisted Sejanus in eliminating her own family. She is said to have poisoned her own husband Drusus to make way for a marraige to Sejanus. However, her father-in-law Tiberius would not allow their marraige and instead gave her daughter Julia to Sejanus.

Their plot was discovered, possibly by her brother Claudius, who then convinced their mother Antonia, who wrote a famous letter warning Emperor Tiberius. Sejanus was executed and Antonia imprision Livilla in their own home. She either poisoned herself or starved to death.


The Monetary History of the World
© Martin A. Armstrong