Aufidia

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Aufidia or Alfidia was a Roman Matron who lived in the first century BC and was the mother to the first Roman Empress Livia Drusilla. Livia Drusilla was the third wife to the first Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus.

Aufidia was a daughter to Roman Magistrate Aufidius Lurco and her mother is unknown. She had married Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, a future praetor. Their daughter Livia Drusilla was born in 58 BC, however it is unknown whether they had any other children.

Aufidia would be the maternal grandmother to Roman Emperor Tiberius and Roman General Nero Claudius Drusus.

[edit] Aufidia in literature and popular culture

Deborah Moore appears as Alfidia, the mother of a fictionalized Livia, in two 2007 episodes of the HBO/BBC series Rome. In A Necessary Fiction, she is present when a married Livia catches the eye of young Octavian, and both women are pleased when he insists that Livia divorce her current husband to marry him. Later, in De Patre Vostro, Alfidia lightly questions Octavia's loyalty to her family at dinner, and is present when Atia of the Julii finally puts daughter-in-law Livia in her place.

[edit] Sources

• Livia ~ Roman-Emperors.org
• Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Tiberius & Caligula