Livilla
Born sometime between 14 and 10 BC, Livilla had close ties to the imperial household through her Julian blood and a series of convenient marriages. But despite being married to the emperor’s son and potential heir, Drusus, Livilla embarked on a raunchy affair with the head of the Praetorian Guard, Sejanus. Whether or not they were attracted to one another or had more Machiavellian motives we’ll never know. Sejanus certainly had more to gain by positioning himself closer to Drusus. Livilla’s husband didn’t last long. He died young in 23 AD; officially from natural causes, most likely from poison Sejanus had long been secretly administering to him.
Livilla was certainly involved in plotting against Tiberius in 31 AD. But a letter from Sejanus’s ex-wife warning the emperor of the imminent threat meant that Tiberius was able to move first. He had them denounced in the senate, and Sejanus and his entire family executed. It’s not clear whether Livilla was murdered or committed suicide. But a much later historian, Cassius Dio, gives us one particularly nasty version of her demise. He says she was locked away in a room where, with her mother Antonia Minor standing guard outside, she was left to starve.
The Roman historian Tacitus tells us that early in the year 32 the Senate passed formal sanctions against her memory and decreed that all images of her should be destroyed. This is significant as it makes Livilla the first woman in the imperial family whose memory the Senate voted to officially expunge. The measures were remarkably effective: as the widow of the emperor’s son and the mother of one of his potential heirs, you’d expect an abundance of portraiture. Remarkably little, however, has survived.
No statue types can be identified as Livilla. All we have are a series of cameos which, because of her unique hairstyle (wavy, centrally parted, and tied up in a chignon) we can identify her on. We do, however, have portraits of the imperial family as a whole in which she’s been scratched out. What’s more incredible still is that no inscription bearing her name survives throughout the entire city of Rome.