The emergence of the Roman Empire, came alongside the reign of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, which succeeded the Roman Republic. The Julio-Claudian Dynasty reigned over the Roman Empire from 27 BC until 68 AD, and were well known for the five contrasting emperors who ruled throughout this time; Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and lastly Nero. While only men were emperors at the time, a female figure arose, receiving nearly the same respect as those emperors, Livia Drusilla. She played a crucial role within the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, as she was the wife of one emperor, Augustus, and the mother of another, Tiberius. Additionally, Livia belonged to one of the oldest and wealthiest aristocratic Roman families, with strong public ties. She would end up being the wealthiest women in Rome, her estate worth 68 million sesterces. Livia’s accumulated wealth played a huge role in the widespread of her portraiture, as she had the means to commission quality artwork. As her time within the public image of the empirical family was quite long, she was also able to set an impressive precedent for women of the imperial time seeing as “women of the imperial family set the latest fashions which were followed lavishly by their country women throughout the Roman Empire”. During imperial times, women had the opportunity to contribute financially to their household incomes through various working opportunities they “were midwives, actresses, writers, domestics, hairdressers, seamstresses” among other professions. Furthermore, women had the right to “inherit, buy, or sell property such as real estate and slaves” – through these rights and opportunities women were meant to improve their families political and social status.
That being said, Livia played an important role in conveying the accepted role of women within society – which contributed to her approval from the public – this is representative within many of her portraitures. This is portrayed through her representation in coinage, in her portrayal of commissioned portraiture and of her appearance on the Ara Pacis Augustae.
Livia’s public importance and approval is witnessed through her depiction on Roman coins. Attestation of her portrayal on coins falls in 16 BC, as she was the first woman to have been displayed on Roman coins in history – this is crucial as it accounts the unofficial, yet important, role she held within the Roman Empire. The Roman public deemed it acceptable for Livia to be active in business ventures and the empire despite, “Livia [playing] the role of ‘first lady’ as familiar roadway as in antiquity, by setting a public example of acceptable female behaviour”, which they associated with divinity. This representation of divinity continues to be demonstrated through Roman coinage as, “Livia is represented under the guise of the female virtues Pietàs and Concordia”, who were both goddess personifications of the Roman empires virtues. Livia’s identification on coinage also arises the relevance of hairstyles in the process of identification in artworks. When one combines, the damage endured in the facial representation of metal artworks and that aristocratic women during the imperial period are represented sharing facial attributes, Livia’s eloquent hairstyles have played a crucial role in her identification. The first coin depicting Livia is from Alexandria and depicts the hairstyles “of the Marbury Hall and Albani-Bonn types”. She is displayed wearing this hairstyle during her more youthful days, but as Livia grew older she was portrayed donning the ‘Zopftyp’ and the ‘Fayum’ hairstyles. The different hairstyles are distinguishable as the Albani-Bonn consists of a “roll on the forehead and a simple bun in the back”. Similarly, the Marbury Hall has a roll on the forehead and has a bun in the back, the hair being brought back by a “braid along the top of the head that incorporates hair from two parts”. The ‘Zopftyp’ and ‘Fayum’ type differs from the two other hairstyles, as not all of the hair is pulled back – it consists of a smaller and a lower bun with hair cascading a alongside her ears and bits of hair encircling the face. Moreover, Livia set a precedent for Octavia’s, Augustus’ sister, portrayal on coinage, as she also donns an Albani-Bonn type hairstyle and would proceed her as “the only woman in Rome who was represented on coins in her own right”.
Livia’s portrayal on sculptures is striking because of the large amount she commissioned and as she was “the first women in western history to be commemorated systematically in official portraiture”. Livia portrays the divine in a series of delegated artwork, namely in the Statue of Livia from Paestum and the Marlborough Turquoise Cameo with Portraits of Livia and Tiberius. The marble Statue of Livia from Paestum is dated between 14 and 37 AD and can be found at the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, in Spain. In the sculpture, her hair is covered indicating her piety and her facial classical “features of simple oval contours, widely spaced almond-shaped eyes, smooth mask-like complexion” present Livia as a youthful and healthy figure. Despite her youthful face, she is ‘heavily draped’ in a manner that accentuates her well developed ‘femininity’. The Marlborough Turquoise Cameo with Portraits of Livia and Tiberius, is dated between 14 and 19 AD – identified through the analysis of the hairstyles Livia donns – and can be found in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts. The cameo depicts Livia with an infantilized Tiberius, she is illustrated with characteristics attributed to Venus, the goddess of love and fertility – fertility being strongly associated with Livia at the time. In addition, the cameo depicts Livia as being significantly larger to Tiberius, which some believe represents her superiors power – despite her son becoming the emperor of the Roman Empire. Regardless, this public portrayal of their relationship helped legitimize Tiberius’ reign – as he was not blood related to Augustus – but his mother was a genuine Claudian. Moreover, divinity was a virtue which the emperor and Roman society strongly supported throughout imperial time, Livia’s encompass of this virtue through artwork was a sign of the power she was able to wield over the public.
A continuation of Tiberius and Livia’s relationship is witnessed on the Ara Pacis, on the southside frieze of the altar, in Rome – also known as the Ravenna Relief. This monument holds great importance and relevance to the public portrayal of Livia, as it was “ dedicated on Livia’s birthday, the 30th of January” and makes reference to her divinity and her fertility. The altar which was dedicated to the goddess of peace, in 9 BC after Augustus’ return to Rome, also “celebrates Livia as Augustus’s counterpart and foundation of the imperial family”. Her representation on frieze depicts her hairstyle resembling those of “contemporary depictions of goddesses and female personifications”, providing this association with superior beings. In addition, she is displayed with part of of her hair being covered, which is a sign of piety. Lastly, Livia is portrayed alongside both of her sons, a a sign of fertility.
In Augustus’s will, he formally adopted Livia in order to pass down a portion of his reigning power and had given her the name of Julia Augusta. This further instituted her power within the empire as she now donned the same title as the previous emperor and was thought of as the matronnesse of Rome – in addition to being the mother of the reigning emperor all at the same time. Although the motives behind the constructions and the actions of the women from Julio-Claudian Dynasty remain unclear, they did contribute in paving the way for increase in female representation within these empires. This pavement would not have been accomplished through Julia Augusta, had she not been looked upon highly from perspective of the public.