The Roman Empresses

Julia Augusta examines the socio-political impact of coin images of Augustus’s wife, Livia, within the broader context of her image in other visual media and reveals the detailed visual language that was developed for the promotion of Livia as the predominant female in the Roman imperial family. The book provides the most comprehensive examination of all extant coins of Livia to date, and provides one of the first studies on the images on Roman coins as gender-infused designs, which created a visual dialogue regarding Livia’s power and gender-roles in relation to those of male members of the imperial family. While the appearance of Roman women on coins was not entirely revolutionary, having roughly coincided with the introduction of images of powerful Roman statesmen to coins in the late 40s BCE, the degree to which Livia came to be commemorated on coins in the provinces and in Rome was unprecedented. This volume provides unique insights into the impact of these representations of Livia, both on coins and in other visual media. Julia Augusta: Images of Rome’s First Empress on the Coins of the Roman Empire will be of great interest to students of women and imperial imagery in the Roman Empire, as well as the importance of visual representation and Roman imperial ideology.

The book tells the historical accounts of women who lived as members of the Roman Empire's ruling family, and how much they influenced the country despite the limitations of women during the era. This chronological account begins with the rise of Empress Livia, consort of Octavian who was considered one of his closest advisors even prior to her coronation. Also featured in this book are other famous Roman empress consorts such as Julia, Agrippina the Elder, Salonina, Faustina, and Marcia Octacilla Severa.

Cover -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Introduction. A Forgotten Empress -- 1 The "Most Noble" Princess: 379-395 -- 2 Orphan Princess in Stilicho's Shadow: 395-408 -- 3 Held Hostage by the Goths: 408-412 -- 4 Queen of the Visigoths: 411-416 -- 5 Wife and Mother in Ravenna: 416-424 -- 6 Empress of the Romans: 424-437 -- 7 The Empress Mother and Her Children: 438-455 -- Epilogue. The Fall of the Western Empire: 455-476 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z.

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LUCILLA, WIFE OF LUCIUS VERUS. Virtue and merit are not hereditary: from a mild and good father often are born children who are wicked and depraved; and the more the good qualities of the parent are remarkable, so much the more does the degeneracy of the son appear in an odious light. Vice is so ingrained in the constitution of some people that nothing can correct or alter it, so that one often sees the best education, example and instruction, thrown away when cast upon an ungrateful soil. Marcus Aurelius, as we have seen, was a most accomplished prince; in him was to be admired a collection of all the virtues, civil, military, and political; but unfortunately his children had nothing of the kind to boast of. His son Commodus was one of the most vicious princes that ever lived?a heap of tyranny, cruelty, and everything that was diabolical. In Lucilla, eldest daughter of Marcus Aurelius, ambition and lasciviousness were predominant qualities: his other children dishonoured their high birth and dignity by themost infamous actions; and it was observed that even those who died in their childhood had discovered a strong propensity to vice. So true it is,1 that children bring into the world with them the good or bad seeds which brighten or tarnish their lives, and which are brought to maturity as occasions and opportunities occur. Lucilla was born at Rome, in the first year of the marriage of Marcus Aurelius with Faustina. Her birth,1 which filled the town with joy, also furnished the Emperor Antoninus with an opportunity of distributing his bounty to the people, and of honouring his son-in-law with the most important dignities. He gave him the tribunate and pro-consular power, and raised him so high that he left him nothing to wish for but the empire, which he also inherite...