Expert: Maria - 10/26/2008

Question
Hello Maria,
 You gave me a great answer before on Octavian's lost legions. I was hoping that you can help me with another little known area. What happened to Mark Antony and Octavia minors daughter Antonia. I know she was Germanicus's mother, and the grandmother of Caligula. I was wondering if it is true that she starved her daughter Livia. Also did she kill herself because she was ashamed of Caligula, or did she die a natural death  

Answer
Hello,

Mark Antony and Octavia Minor, sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus (known also as Octavian) had two daughters by their marriage: Antonia Maior (born 39 BC) and Antonia Minor (born 36 BC) whose children were the famous general Germanicus, Livia Julia (nickname Livilla ) and the Roman Emperor Claudius.

Moreover Antonia Minor  was grandmother to Emperor Caligula, son of Germanicus.

According to the historian Dio Cassius (Roman History, 58.11.7), Antonia imprisoned Livia in her room and allowed her to starve to death, after the emperor Tiberius handed Livia over to her for punishment, since Livilla seemed  to have poisoned her husband  Drusus, son of Tiberius, as we read in Tacitus and  Suetonius.

But other sources say only  that Livia perished by execution or suicide, since she had conspired against the emperor Tiberius.

In short, we know that Livia did not die a natural death, but do not know for sure how she died.

We know however for sure that at the beginning of 32 AD the Senate proposed "terrible decrees against her very statues and memory"( Tacitus, Annals 6.2 ), since Livia had conspired against Tiberius and poisoned her husband Drusus.


As for the death of Antonia, Suetonius, in his ‘Life of Caligula’ chapter 23, says:” When his grandmother Antonia asked for a private interview, he refused it except in the presence of the prefect Macro, and by such indignities and annoyances he caused her death; although some think that he also gave her poison”.(in Latin, "Aviae Antoniae secretum petenti denegavit, nisi ut interveniret Macro praefectus, ac per istius modi indignitates et taedia causa extitit mortis, dato tamen, ut quidam putant, et veneno”).

As you can see, she could have committed suicide, having had enough of Caligula’s behaviour, or have been poisoned by Caligula himself who did not tolerate her advice and her attempts at improving him.

Anyway, no matter how it went, Antonia did not die a natural death.

Hope this can be helpful to you.

Best regards,
Maria