Our clear view would be that a visit to "The Augustus House" is an absolute "must", but, for a variety of reasons, we would by no means make a similar recommendation about including this particular site in planning your Tour of the Roman Forum / Palatine Hill area.The House of Livia, also known as Livia’s House or Livia’s Villa, was the home of Livia Drusilla (58 BC–29 AD), the third wife of Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire, and the mother of its second emperor, Tiberius. There's an audiovisual display, which tells you quite a bit about the functions of the various Rooms on view, but - having now visited "The Augustus House" twice - we felt that we didn't learn quite as much about our surroundings, and their fascinating occupant, 2,000 years ago, as we would have wished. Whatever actually happened, it's interesting to be able to visit her partially-restored House on the Palatine Hill. ![]() While many sources say that Augustus died from "natural causes" at age 75, there are also others suggesting that Livia brought about his death by poisoning fresh figs, to facilitate the succession of her Son, Tiberius - essentially protecting her own position of power and influence. It would seem that Livia was quite a "survivor" : she lived to her mid-eighties, overcame her link with a 1st Husband who had opposed Octavian (later Caesar Augustus), married the future Emperor (who apparently adored her) in 39 B.C., and remained with him, as his trusted Counsellor, until his death in 14 A.D. She had been married previously, to a cousin (Tiberius Claudius Nero), by whom she produced a child, who was, later, to become the Emperor Tiberius, succeeding her second husband. ![]() Livia Drusilla is undoubtedly best known as having been the wife of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, throughout his reign from 27 B.C.
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