elcctra:Claudia Livia Julia, known as Livilla, or “Little Livia”, was a daughter of Drusus and Anton
elcctra:Claudia Livia Julia, known as Livilla, or “Little Livia”, was a daughter of Drusus and Antonia Minor, being thus a granddaughter of empress Livia, of Mark Antony and of Octavia Minor. Livilla was married twice, both times to would be emperors: Gaius Caesar, emperor Augustus’ grandson, and Drusus Caesar, emperor Tiberius’ son. Though her husbands never became emperors, their positions as potential successors during their lives meant that Livilla herself had an important role within the royal family, making her the most probable successor to Livia as empress. Certainly the remarkably beautiful Livilla had enough ambition to match her status. Livilla began an affair with the also ambitious praetorian prefect Lucius Aelius Sejanus, who plotted to overthrow Tiberius. To help her lover, Livilla allegedly poisoned the emperor’s son, her husband Drusus. After Drusus’ death, Sejanus requested Tiberius for Livilla’s hand, but his plans against the emperor were discovered and the marriage never took place. Livilla’s death happened shortly after Sejanus’ fall, either by murder or by suicide.Vipsania Agrippina, known as Agrippina Maior, had an even more distinguished ancestry than Livilla, being a granddaughter of Augustus himself. She was married to Livilla’s older brother Germanicus, the most popular general of his time and Tiberius’ adopted son and heir. Agrippina was a constant companion of her husband, travelling with him throughout his career, which was extremely uncommon, but it was after his suspicious death that she took centre stage in Roman politics, openly claiming that her husband had been murdered to promote Tiberius’ son Drusus as heir. As Augustus’ granddaughter, Agrippina saw herself and her family as the rightful heirs to the imperial throne. Tiberius mistrusted Agrippina and Livilla’s lover, Sejanus, saw her and her sons as the biggest threat to his power, so they worked to have her and her two oldest sons exiled and killed.Livilla and Agrippina were close in age and rank and natural rivals inside the imperial family. Although neither managed to become empress, in the long term Agrippina triumphed over Livilla: her son Caligula went on to become emperor, ordering the death of Livilla’s son Gemellus in the process, Agrippina’s daughter, also named Agrippina, became empress, and her grandson Nero was the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Agrippina was long remembered as noble and brave for her fight against Tiberius and defense of her husband and sons, while Livilla’s image was tainted by her affair with Sejanus. -- source link