Refine your search

The results of your search are listed below alongside the search terms you entered on the previous page. You can refine your search by amending any of the parameters in the form and resubmitting it.

Select all Deselect all Add selection to lightbox
Large Small
Thumbnails per page
Born Livia Drusilla (58 BCE - 29 CE) but later known as Julia Drusilla after her adoption into the Julian family in 14 CE, Livia was Emperor Augustus' third wife and his spouse throughout his reign as emperor. She was granted the honorific title of Augusta. The mother of Tiberius, paternal grandmother to Claudius, paternal great-grandmother of Caligula, and maternal great-great-grandmother of Nero, she was deified by Claudius after her death.<br/><br/> She was known throughout her life for her influence and her capacity as privileged advisor and counselor to both Augustus and Tiberius later in life, and her and Augustus became the role model for proper Roman households. She was also ambitious, pushing her sons to power, with rumours that she ordered the assassinations of all rival claimants to emperor.<br/><br/> During Tiberius' early reign, Livius held unofficial but very real power, but their relationship would later sour, Tiberius becoming resentful of the idea that she had given him the throne. She finally died of illness in 29 CE, with Tiberius refusing to attend her funeral and vetoing all honours the Senate wished to grant her posthumously. Her honours would later be restored during the reign of her grandson Claudius.
Cleopatra VII Philopator (69 – August 12, 30 BCE), known to history simply as Cleopatra, was the last active pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt, shortly survived as pharaoh by her son Caesarion. After her reign, Egypt became a province of the then-recently established Roman Empire.<br/><br/> Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Macedonian Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemies, throughout their dynasty, spoke Greek and refused to speak Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek as well as Egyptian languages were used on official court documents such as the Rosetta Stone. By contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess, Isis.<br/><br/> Cleopatra originally ruled jointly with her father, Ptolemy XII Auletes, and later with her brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, whom she married according to Egyptian custom, but eventually she became sole ruler. As pharaoh she consummated a liaison with Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne. She later elevated her son with Caesar, Caesarion, to co-ruler in name.<br/><br/> After Caesar's assassination in 44 BCE, she aligned with Mark Antony in opposition to Caesar's legal heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus). With Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus. After losing the Battle of Actium to Octavian's forces, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra followed suit. According to tradition, she killed herself by means of an asp bite on August 12, 30 BCE. She was outlived by Caesarion, who was declared pharaoh by his supporters, but soon killed on Octavian's orders. Egypt then became the Roman province of Aegyptus.