Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome

Livia is one of the few women of antiquity about whom we know enough for a book-length biography.
And still not the kind of biography that is written about modern figures. We don't have archival collections of letters, diaries, etc. by Livia and her contemporaries; much of what we know is entirely on the surface. The well-known Livia of Graves' I, Claudius is a conniving poisoner. There is little historical evidence for that, only gossip and innuendo from Tacitus. Barrett strips away the sensational fabrications to give a balanced account based on all the available sources. Livia was a survivor, living to almost 87 in an era when the average life expectancy was well below half of that and many of the Roman aristocracy did not survive show more the long civil wars. She spanned the end of the Republic and the formative years of the empire; much of that time she was enormously influential behind the scenes.

The book falls into three parts: a chronological narrative, a series of topical chapters (private life, L as wife of Augustus, L as mother of Tiberius, social and political relationships, etc.), and extensive appendices on the sources, chronological problems, etc. The narrative is very readable and Barrett clearly explains anything that a general reader likely wouldn't know. show less

Although obviously meticulously researched, this work was disappointing.

The writing style is tedious and contains far too much detail and unnecessary digressions. Sometimes less is more- the author would have been better served to focus on a more user-friendly prose instead trying to convey each and every fact discovered in his research.

Kudos for attempting a biography of this very important female figure. Nonetheless, I would not recommend this work because of the author's substandard style.

This was a very good biography of the first imperial queen of Rome and how she has been misinterpreted as a murderess as Tacitus suggests.

Roman Empire