Roman imperial dynasties | |||
Julio-Claudian dynasty | |||
Chronology | |||
Augustus | 27 BC – 14 AD | ||
Tiberius | 14–37 AD | ||
Caligula | 37–41 AD | ||
Claudius | 41–54 AD | ||
Nero | 54–68 AD | ||
Family | |||
Gens Julia Gens Claudia Julio-Claudian family tree Category:Julio-Claudian dynasty |
|||
Succession | |||
Preceded by Roman Republic |
Followed by Year of the Four Emperors |
Julia Livia (AD 5–43), sometimes referred to as Julia Drusi Caesaris filia (Julia, daughter of Drusus Caesar), was the daughter of Drusus Julius Caesar and Livilla, and granddaughter of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. She was also a first cousin of the emperor Caligula, and niece of the emperor Claudius.
At the time of Emperor Augustus' death in AD 14, Julia was ill. Before he died, Augustus had asked his wife Livia whether Julia had recovered.
In 20, Julia married her cousin Nero Caesar (the son of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder). The marriage appears to have been an unhappy one, and fell victim to the machinations of the notorious palace guardsman Sejanus, who exploited his intimacy with Livilla to scheme against Germanicus’ family. In the words of Tacitus,
Later in 29, owing to the intrigues of Sejanus, and at the insistence of Tiberius, Nero and Agrippina were accused of treason. Nero was declared a public enemy by the Senate and taken away in chains in a closed litter. Nero was incarcerated on the island of Pontia (Ponza). The following year he was executed or driven to suicide. Cassius Dio records that Julia was now engaged to Sejanus, but this claim appears to be contradicted by Tacitus, whose authority is to be preferred. Sejanus was condemned and executed on Tiberius’ orders on 18 October 31.
In 33, Julia married Gaius Rubellius Blandus, a man from an equestrian family who was consul suffect in 18 and later proconsul of Africa. Their children were Gaius Rubellius Plautus (33-62) (cf. Raepsaet-Charlier, p. 89 for Plautus' praenomen) and a daughter Rubellia Bassa who married a maternal uncle of the future Roman Emperor Nerva. Juvenal, in Satire VIII.39, suggests another son, also named Gaius Rubellius Blandus. According to an inscription, Julia may also have been the mother of a certain Rubellius Drusus.