Welcome to the exhibition of portraits of Rome's premier first lady; in Livia's life and portraits we see the Romans attempting to define what it meant to be an empress, what was acceptable and unacceptable for the woman who was closest to the most powerful man in the world.
Before visiting the exhibition, read Livia's life story and view how coins of Tiberius and Claudius presented her. Then click on each portrait to see a closer view and to learn more about the piece and its symbolism.
NB: All the heads you see here were actually designed for insertion in statue bodies like the one on the left; they would not have been displayed on columns. An excellent source of information about all the portraits of Livia is Elizabeth Bartman, Portraits of Livia: Imaging the Imperial Woman in Augustan Rome (Cambridge University Press, 1999).
Exhibition Curator: Scintilla