Livia, Roman wife of Augustus (d. 29)

Livia Drusilla (30 January 59 BC – 28 September AD 29) was Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Emperor Augustus. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julian family in 14 AD.

Livia was the daughter of Roman Senator Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus and his wife Alfidia. She married Tiberius Claudius Nero around 43 BC, and they had two sons, Tiberius and Drusus. In 38 BC, she divorced Tiberius Claudius Nero and married the political leader Octavian. The Senate granted Octavian the title Augustus in 27 BC, effectively making him emperor. Livia then became the Roman empress. In this role, she served as an influential confidant of her husband and was rumored to have been responsible for the deaths of a number of Augustus' relatives, including his grandson Agrippa Postumus. Augustus eventually adopted her son Tiberius as his heir.

After Augustus died in AD 14, Tiberius became emperor. Livia continued to exert political influence as the mother of the emperor. She died in AD 29. She was the great-grandmother of the emperor Caligula, grandmother of the emperor Claudius, and the great-great-grandmother of the emperor Nero. In AD 42, Livia was deified by Claudius, who acknowledged her title of Augusta.