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The Banishment of Julia Augusti (PART 6)

Written by Mary Naples, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Of how she was rounded up, the details are unknown. It would have had to occur in the dead of night. Since she was beloved, her banishment by light of day might have led to political unrest. Because she was the house of Augustus’s first exile—though mournfully

The Banishment of Julia Augusti (PART 5)

Written by Mary Naples, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Thus, hard on the heels of the birth of her fifth child, Agrippa Posthumous, and still in mourning for her husband, the Princeps had his newly widowed daughter betrothed—this time to her stepbrother, Tiberius. One can only imagine Livia’s delight. Finally, another Julio-Claudian union—the fervent hope must

The Banishment of Julia Augusti (PART 4)

Written by Mary Naples, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Attempting to revive the virtues and morality of the old Republic, Augustus set forth a series of contentious marriage laws ostensibly designed to boast marriage and procreation amongst the patrician class. Serving as a model of chastity, the headliner used as an exemplar to promote the Julian

The Banishment of Julia Augusti (PART 3)

Written by Mary Naples, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Yet, as it turns out, Livia would not be unhappy for long. Poor Marcellus would not live to see his twenty-first birthday. After just two years of marriage, an epidemic swept through the Roman Empire that would infect Augustus almost to death. After he improved, it went

The Banishment of Julia Augusti (PART 2)

Written by Mary Naples, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Because the mere hint of sovereignty had dispatched his dear Uncle Julius into the hereafter, he never called himself emperor, preferring to use the term Princeps, or first citizen, instead. Regardless of his title, a de facto monarchy is what his regime—the principate—would become. But like all

The Banishment of Julia Augusti (PART 1)

Written by Mary Naples, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom “I would certainly not describe as mercy, what was actually the exhaustion of cruelty.” ~ Seneca, On Mercy (referring to the deified Augustus) “Let her be banished for life,” Augustus is recorded as saying about the harsh exile of his only biological child, Julia, to the barren and windswept