Livia’s Early Life

On January 30, 58 BCE, in the city of Rome, Italy, an auspicious event took place. A daughter was born to the senator Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus and his wife Alfidia. A brief ceremony followed the birth. After the baby was washed and swaddled, she was laid at her father’s feet. Stooping over, he lifted her in his arms. This act was essential in ancient Rome, to establish a child’s legitimacy. By performing it a father acknowledged that the child placed before him was his, and that he assumed responsibility for its upbringing. Claudianus gave his daughter the feminine form of his gentilicum, the name of his gens— his clan or extended family. To this he added a second appellation, the feminine diminutive of his cognomen or surname. And so the newborn was christened Livia Drusilla. Little could her parents know, on that winter’s day, that the infant they had welcomed into the world and their home was destined to be intimately associated, with people and events which would profoundly affect the course of world civilization. Livia’s father belonged, by birth and adoption, to two of the oldest and most politically prominent families in Rome. In 79 BCE an Appius Claudius Pulcher held the executive office of consul—the Roman Republic’s highest magistracy. Livia’s father was most likely a son or brother of this man. Although the precise year of Claudianus’ birth is unknown, it certainly occurred no later than 90 BCE. As an adult, he held the office of praetor (trial judge) in 50 BCE. At that time, the minimum requisite age for tenure of this magistracy was 40.