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{{Short description|Youngest sister of the Roman Emperor Caligula (c. 18 - c. 41 AD)}}
'''Claudia Julia Livilla Minor''' (September [[18]] AD-[[42]] AD) was the youngest child of [[Agrippina the Elder]] and [[Germanicus]]. She was mainly raised by her mother, the Emperor [[Tiberius]], his mother [[Livia Drusilla]], and her grandmother [[Antonia Minor]]. She was born on the Greek island of [[Lesbos]] (leading [[Robert Graves]] to refer to her as "Lesbia" in his ''[[I, Claudius]]'' and ''[[Claudius the God]]'').
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Julia Livilla
| image = Bust of Livilla - Altes Museum - Berlin - Germany 2017.jpg
| birth_date = {{circa|18 AD}}
| birth_place = [[Lesbos]], [[Greece in the Roman era|Greece]]
| death_date = {{circa|{{death year and age|41|18}}}}
| death_place = [[Ventotene|Pandataria]]
| place of burial = [[Mausoleum of Augustus]]
| spouse = [[Marcus Vinicius (consul 30)|Marcus Vinicius]]
| dynasty = [[Julio-Claudian dynasty|Julio-Claudian]]
| father = [[Germanicus]]
| mother = [[Agrippina the Elder]]
}}
'''Julia Livilla''' ({{circa|18}} – {{circa|41 AD}}) was the youngest child of [[Germanicus]] and [[Agrippina the Elder]] and the youngest sister of the Emperor [[Caligula]].


==Life==
In [[33]], she married [[Marcus Vinicius]]. Vinicius' family came from a small town outside of Rome. He descended from a family of [[equites|knights]] and his father and grandfather were [[consul]]s. Her husband was mild in character and was an elaborate [[orator]]. Vinicius was appointed by Tiberius as a commissioner in early [[37]].
Julia Livilla was the youngest great-granddaughter of Emperor [[Augustus]], great-niece and adoptive granddaughter of the Emperor [[Tiberius]], sister of the Emperor [[Caligula]], niece of the Emperor [[Claudius]], and through her eldest sister [[Agrippina the Younger]], maternal aunt of the Emperor [[Nero]]. In most ancient literary sources, on inscriptions and on coins, she is simply called "Julia". It is possible that she dropped the use of her [[cognomen]] after the ''[[damnatio memoriae]]'' of her paternal aunt [[Livilla]] (sister of [[Germanicus]] and [[Claudius]]) after whom she was named. However, on her sepulchral inscription, she is explicitly named "Livilla, daughter of Germanicus",<ref name="CIL,6,891">{{CIL|6|891}}</ref> which suggests that in her time she was called either "Julia" or "Livilla".
She was born on [[Lesbos]], one of the many [[List of islands of Greece|Greek islands]] during her parents' grand tour of the eastern Mediterranean, leading Germanicus to his command base in the imperial province of [[Syria]] for the ''maius imperium'' given to him by [[Tiberius]] over the territory east of the [[Adriatic Sea]]. As a young child, she was with her mother and brother [[Caligula]] when they returned to [[Rome]] after Germanicus' untimely death in [[Antioch]] in 19 AD.


Julia Livilla grew up in the household of her great-grandmother [[Livia]] and later under the care of her paternal grandmother [[Antonia Minor]]. She was first betrothed to a distant cousin, [[Publius Quinctilius Varus the Younger]], son of the ill-fated governor of Germania, [[Publius Quinctilius Varus]], and of [[Claudia Pulchra]], grandniece of [[Augustus]],<ref>Elder Seneca, ''Controversiae'', 1.3.10</ref> but after Quinctillius was charged of ''[[Law of majestas|maiestas]]'' in 27, the marriage did not occur. In 33, she married [[Marcus Vinicius (consul 30)|Marcus Vinicius]]. Vinicius' family came from a small town outside of Rome. He descended from a family of the ''[[equites]]'' class and his father and grandfather had served as [[consul]]s. Her husband was mild in character and was an elaborate [[orator]]. Vinicius was appointed by Tiberius as a commissioner in early 37. He was also consul in 30 and proconsul of [[Asia]] in 38/39. According to an inscription, Julia Livilla may have accompanied her husband in Asia during his proconsulship.<ref>Raepsaet-Charlier, ''Prosopographie des femmes de l'ordre sénatorial'', p.&nbsp;380.</ref>
In [[39]], she was exiled by her brother [[Caligula]] for an attempt to overthrow him. After he was killed, she returned from exile. Later in [[41]], she fell out of favour with [[Messalina]] and was charged by her uncle [[Claudius]] with adultery with the philosopher [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]. Both were exiled. In [[42]], her uncle ordered her execution, without a defence and on unsupported charges.


[[Image:Caligula sestertius RIC 33 680999.jpg|thumb|During the reign of Caligula, coins were issued depicting his three sisters, Agrippina, Drusilla and Livilla]]
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[[Category:18 births]]
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[[Category:42 deaths]]
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[[Category:Julio-Claudian Dynasty]]
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[[Category:Ancient Roman women]]


During the first years of Caligula's reign, Livilla, along with her elder sisters [[Agrippina the Younger]] and [[Julia Drusilla]], received considerable honours and striking privileges, such as the rights of the [[Vestal Virgin]]s (like the freedom to view public games from the upper seats in the stadium), the inclusion of her name in the oath of loyalty to the emperor and her depiction on coins.<ref>Suetonius, ''Vita Caligulae'', 15.3</ref><ref>Barrett, ''Agrippina'', pp.&nbsp;52–53.</ref> Although seeming to experience an eventful and privileged court life, she was under full control of her brother, and, according to Suetonius,<ref>Suetonius, ''Vita Caligulae'', p.&nbsp;24.</ref> she, along with Agrippina, was prostituted by her brother to his [[catamite]]s. Ancient writers even report gossip of incestuous relationships between Caligula and his sisters, including Livilla.
[[pl:Julia Liwilla]]

In 39, Livilla was involved in an unsuccessful conspiracy (led perhaps by Agrippina) to overthrow [[Caligula]] and to replace him with his brother-in-law [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (executed by Caligula)|Marcus Aemilius Lepidus]] (Drusilla's widower, but also alleged lover of Agrippina and Livilla). Livilla and her sister [[Agrippina the Younger]] were banished to the [[Pontine Islands]] (they were most likely separated in their exile and each one sent to a different island). After the deaths of [[Caligula]], his fourth wife [[Milonia Caesonia]], and their daughter [[Julia Drusilla (daughter of Caligula)|Julia Drusilla]], she returned from exile on the orders of the new emperor, Livilla's paternal uncle [[Claudius]]. Later in 41, she fell out of favour with [[Messalina]] (Claudius's third wife) and was charged by her paternal uncle Claudius for having adultery with [[Seneca the Younger]]. Both were exiled. She was most likely sent to [[Ventotene]].<ref name="Barrett, Agrippina, p. 82">Barrett, ''Agrippina'', p.&nbsp;82.</ref> Political considerations may have played a role in Julia Livilla's fate, more than just moral or domestic preoccupations as inferred in the ancient sources. In late 41 or early 42, her uncle ordered her execution, apparently by [[starvation]], without a defense and on unsupported charges. She was executed around the same time as her cousin [[Julia Livia]], the daughter of her aunt Livilla. Her remains were later brought back to Rome, probably when Agrippina became Empress; they were laid to rest in the [[Mausoleum of Augustus]].<ref name="Barrett, Agrippina, p. 82"/>

The sepulchral inscription found on her [[cippus]] reads: "Livilla, daughter of Germanicus, lies here" (''LIVILLA GERMANICI CAESARIS FILIA HIC SITA EST'').<ref name="CIL,6,891"/> A rich and precious vase found near this cippus is believed to have contained Livilla's ashes.<ref>Massi, Compendious, p.&nbsp;45.</ref>

==Cultural depictions==
*In ''[[I, Claudius]]'' and ''Claudius the God'', the novels by [[Robert Graves]], Livilla is called 'Lesbia', a name alluding to the island where she was born. She was almost omitted from the [[I, Claudius (TV series)|television adaptation]], there was just a brief mention of Caligula having three sisters at one point, and another brief mention of two sisters just before his assassination.
* In the 1968 British [[television]] series ''[[The Caesars (TV series)|The Caesars]]'' Julia Livilla was portrayed by [[Jennifer White Shah|Jenny White]].
* In the 2019 ''[[Roman Empire (TV series)|Roman Empire]]'' season 3: Caligula: The Mad Emperor, Julia Livilla was played by New Zealand actress [[Molly Leishman]].

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Julia Livilla'''
|2= 2. [[Germanicus]]
|3= 3. [[Agrippina the Elder]]
|4= 4. [[Nero Claudius Drusus]]
|5= 5. [[Antonia Minor]]
|6= 6. [[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]]
|7= 7. [[Julia the Elder]]
|8= 8. [[Tiberius Claudius Nero (father of Tiberius Caesar)|Tiberius Claudius Nero]]
|9= 9. [[Livia Drusilla]]
|10= 10. [[Mark Antony]]
|11= 11. [[Octavia Minor]]
|12= 12. [[Lucius Vipsanius (father of Agrippa)|Lucius Vipsanius]]
|13=
|14= 14. [[Augustus]]
|15= 15. [[Scribonia (wife of Augustus)|Scribonia]]
}}

==See also==
* [[Julio-Claudian family tree]]

== References ==

=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* E. Groag, A. Stein, L. Petersen - e.a. (ed.), ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III'', Berlin, 1933
* Raepsaet-Charlier M.-Th., ''Prosopographie des femmes de l'ordre sénatorial (Ier-IIe siècles),'' 2 vol., Louvain, 1987, 633 ff.
* Barrett, Anthony A., ''Agrippina: Sex, Power and Politics in the Early Roman Empire.'' Yale University Press, New Haven, 1996.
* Levick, Barbara, ''Claudius''. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1990.
* Massi, Ercole G., ''Compendious description of the museums of ancient sculpture Greek and roman in the Vatican palace.'' Printing Establishment Morin, Rome, 1882.
* Rose, Charles Brian, ''Dynastic Commemoration and Imperial Portraiture in the Julio-Claudian Period.'' Cambridge, 1997.
* Wood, Susan, ''Diva Drusilla Panthea and the Sisters of Caligula'', American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 99, No. 3. (Jul., 1995), pp.&nbsp;457–482.
{{refend}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Livilla, Julia}}
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[[Category:1st-century Roman women]]
[[Category:1st-century Romans]]
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[[Category:18 births]]
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[[Category:40s deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at the Mausoleum of Augustus]]
[[Category:Children of Germanicus]]
[[Category:Deaths by starvation]]
[[Category:Incest]]
[[Category:Julii Caesares]]
⚫
[[Category:Julio-Claudian dynasty]]
[[Category:People from Lesbos]]

Latest revision as of 14:07, 17 September 2024

Julia Livilla
Bornc. 18 AD
Lesbos, Greece
Diedc. 41 (aged 22–23)
Pandataria
Burial
Mausoleum of Augustus
SpouseMarcus Vinicius
DynastyJulio-Claudian
FatherGermanicus
MotherAgrippina the Elder

Julia Livilla (c. 18 – c. 41 AD) was the youngest child of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder and the youngest sister of the Emperor Caligula.

Life

[edit]

Julia Livilla was the youngest great-granddaughter of Emperor Augustus, great-niece and adoptive granddaughter of the Emperor Tiberius, sister of the Emperor Caligula, niece of the Emperor Claudius, and through her eldest sister Agrippina the Younger, maternal aunt of the Emperor Nero. In most ancient literary sources, on inscriptions and on coins, she is simply called "Julia". It is possible that she dropped the use of her cognomen after the damnatio memoriae of her paternal aunt Livilla (sister of Germanicus and Claudius) after whom she was named. However, on her sepulchral inscription, she is explicitly named "Livilla, daughter of Germanicus",[1] which suggests that in her time she was called either "Julia" or "Livilla".

She was born on Lesbos, one of the many Greek islands during her parents' grand tour of the eastern Mediterranean, leading Germanicus to his command base in the imperial province of Syria for the maius imperium given to him by Tiberius over the territory east of the Adriatic Sea. As a young child, she was with her mother and brother Caligula when they returned to Rome after Germanicus' untimely death in Antioch in 19 AD.

Julia Livilla grew up in the household of her great-grandmother Livia and later under the care of her paternal grandmother Antonia Minor. She was first betrothed to a distant cousin, Publius Quinctilius Varus the Younger, son of the ill-fated governor of Germania, Publius Quinctilius Varus, and of Claudia Pulchra, grandniece of Augustus,[2] but after Quinctillius was charged of maiestas in 27, the marriage did not occur. In 33, she married Marcus Vinicius. Vinicius' family came from a small town outside of Rome. He descended from a family of the equites class and his father and grandfather had served as consuls. Her husband was mild in character and was an elaborate orator. Vinicius was appointed by Tiberius as a commissioner in early 37. He was also consul in 30 and proconsul of Asia in 38/39. According to an inscription, Julia Livilla may have accompanied her husband in Asia during his proconsulship.[3]

During the reign of Caligula, coins were issued depicting his three sisters, Agrippina, Drusilla and Livilla

During the first years of Caligula's reign, Livilla, along with her elder sisters Agrippina the Younger and Julia Drusilla, received considerable honours and striking privileges, such as the rights of the Vestal Virgins (like the freedom to view public games from the upper seats in the stadium), the inclusion of her name in the oath of loyalty to the emperor and her depiction on coins.[4][5] Although seeming to experience an eventful and privileged court life, she was under full control of her brother, and, according to Suetonius,[6] she, along with Agrippina, was prostituted by her brother to his catamites. Ancient writers even report gossip of incestuous relationships between Caligula and his sisters, including Livilla.

In 39, Livilla was involved in an unsuccessful conspiracy (led perhaps by Agrippina) to overthrow Caligula and to replace him with his brother-in-law Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (Drusilla's widower, but also alleged lover of Agrippina and Livilla). Livilla and her sister Agrippina the Younger were banished to the Pontine Islands (they were most likely separated in their exile and each one sent to a different island). After the deaths of Caligula, his fourth wife Milonia Caesonia, and their daughter Julia Drusilla, she returned from exile on the orders of the new emperor, Livilla's paternal uncle Claudius. Later in 41, she fell out of favour with Messalina (Claudius's third wife) and was charged by her paternal uncle Claudius for having adultery with Seneca the Younger. Both were exiled. She was most likely sent to Ventotene.[7] Political considerations may have played a role in Julia Livilla's fate, more than just moral or domestic preoccupations as inferred in the ancient sources. In late 41 or early 42, her uncle ordered her execution, apparently by starvation, without a defense and on unsupported charges. She was executed around the same time as her cousin Julia Livia, the daughter of her aunt Livilla. Her remains were later brought back to Rome, probably when Agrippina became Empress; they were laid to rest in the Mausoleum of Augustus.[7]

The sepulchral inscription found on her cippus reads: "Livilla, daughter of Germanicus, lies here" (LIVILLA GERMANICI CAESARIS FILIA HIC SITA EST).[1] A rich and precious vase found near this cippus is believed to have contained Livilla's ashes.[8]

Cultural depictions

[edit]
  • In I, Claudius and Claudius the God, the novels by Robert Graves, Livilla is called 'Lesbia', a name alluding to the island where she was born. She was almost omitted from the television adaptation, there was just a brief mention of Caligula having three sisters at one point, and another brief mention of two sisters just before his assassination.
  • In the 1968 British television series The Caesars Julia Livilla was portrayed by Jenny White.
  • In the 2019 Roman Empire season 3: Caligula: The Mad Emperor, Julia Livilla was played by New Zealand actress Molly Leishman.

Ancestry

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ a b CIL VI, 891
  2. ^ Elder Seneca, Controversiae, 1.3.10
  3. ^ Raepsaet-Charlier, Prosopographie des femmes de l'ordre sénatorial, p. 380.
  4. ^ Suetonius, Vita Caligulae, 15.3
  5. ^ Barrett, Agrippina, pp. 52–53.
  6. ^ Suetonius, Vita Caligulae, p. 24.
  7. ^ a b Barrett, Agrippina, p. 82.
  8. ^ Massi, Compendious, p. 45.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • E. Groag, A. Stein, L. Petersen - e.a. (ed.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III, Berlin, 1933
  • Raepsaet-Charlier M.-Th., Prosopographie des femmes de l'ordre sénatorial (Ier-IIe siècles), 2 vol., Louvain, 1987, 633 ff.
  • Barrett, Anthony A., Agrippina: Sex, Power and Politics in the Early Roman Empire. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1996.
  • Levick, Barbara, Claudius. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1990.
  • Massi, Ercole G., Compendious description of the museums of ancient sculpture Greek and roman in the Vatican palace. Printing Establishment Morin, Rome, 1882.
  • Rose, Charles Brian, Dynastic Commemoration and Imperial Portraiture in the Julio-Claudian Period. Cambridge, 1997.
  • Wood, Susan, Diva Drusilla Panthea and the Sisters of Caligula, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 99, No. 3. (Jul., 1995), pp. 457–482.
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