17. Ancient Rome’s Prudish Matron
Antonia Minor (36 BC – 37 AD) was the younger daughter of Mark Antony and Emperor Augustus’ sister Octavia Minor. In 16 BC, she married the future Emperor Tiberius’ brother, Drusus, and bore him several children. Three of the offspring survived: Germanicus, father of Emperor Caligula and maternal Grandfather of Emperor Nero; the future Emperor Claudius; and a daughter, Livilla. Antonia’s husband died in 9 BC from injuries sustained after falling from a horse, and although her uncle Augustus and the rest of the family pressured her to remarry, she never did.
Antonia Minor developed a reputation as an old-fashioned and straitlaced prude, who embodied the traditional virtues of Roman matrons. So it was unfortunate for all involved that her daughter Livilla became a chief participant in a scandal that rocked Rome to its foundations. Unfortunately for Livilla, that was when she discovered just how uncompromising and straitlaced a prude her mother really was.
