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Locusta the Poisoner
Rome was a rough and tumble place. Even in the golden years of the Pax Romana where everyone was supposed to gather around and celebrate being in the glory of the Roman Empire. Political intrigue was rife and there was more drama than Days of Our Lives even when Marlena was possessed by the devil. So what did you do if you have a political enemy that was really getting under your skin? You looked up Locusta of Gaul or as she was known, Locusta the Poisoner. Tacitus describes her in his Annals, “This was the famous Locusta; a woman lately condemned as a dealer in clandestine practices, but reserved…
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Empress Irene
Not much is known about Irene’s early life. She born between 750 and 755 CE and was related in some way to the noble Greek Sarantapechos family of Athens. She was an orphan, and there is some mystery around why she was chosen from obscurity to be the bride of Leo IV, heir to Constantinople. It is thought she might have been selected in the first instance of a “bride show”, where girls of outstanding beauty were brought together and a wife was chosen. There is no evidence of this though. However, she came to the attention of Constantine V Copronymus, the ‘dung-named’ so nicknamed after an unfortunate baptismal font…
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Livia Drusilla- Princeps Femina
Born Livia Drusilla in 58 BCE, she rose to become the first Empress of Rome and an example of womanly virtue and simplicity. However, in later years, she has been painted as treacherous and power hungry as well as a deadly foe. How much of this is true? Her father was M. Livius Drusus Claudianaus, and carried the blood of the both the Livii and the patrician Claudii families. No one is sure if she was an only child, the name “Drusilla” indicates she was a younger daughter, but there is no record of an older one. Her family did adopt Marcus Drusus Libo as a son and heir. She…
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Aelia Galla Placidia- Mother of the Western Roman Empire
If we were judging by famous ancestors, Aelia Galla Placidia had collected quite a few plums. Daughter of Emperor Theodosius I and his second wife, Galla, who was the daughter of Emperor Valentinian I. Her half brothers were emperors Honorius and Arcadius, and nephew was Theodosius II, emperor in Constantinople. Her son went on to become Emperor Valentinian III. Granted, some of the crop was a bit questionable and possibly moldy, but they were plums all the same. Added to, or perhaps in spite of, her famous relative, Galla Placidia was one of the most influential figures of the time. Her biographer Stewart Irvin Oost says, she “played at least…
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Elagabalus
Born Varius Avitus Bassianus in 204 CE in Syria, the little boy had impressive connections. His parents were Sextus Varius Marcellus, a former senator under Emperor Caracalla, and Julia Soaemis, a niece of Septimus Severus’s second wife Julia Domna. His grandmother was Julia Maesa, widow to the consul Julius Avitus, and younger sister of Julia Domna. All of this tied him closely to the family of the Emperor Caracalla. When Caracalla was assassinated, the new Emperor Macrinus was fearful of anyone with close ties to the former emperor. He commanded that Julia Domna leave Antioch, however, she starved herself rather than comply. Her sister and her niece swore revenge. Macrinus…
