Livia

Born in 59 BC to a senatorial family, Livia Drusilla married Tiberius Claudius Nero and had two sons before divorcing him in 38 BC to marry Octavian, soon to become Augustus. When the Senate granted him the title in 27 BC, she became Rome's first empress and his most trusted advisor, sitting in on confidential discussions and shaping decisions behind closed doors. She built her own machinery of power: a network of indebted officials, a file of rivals' crimes, leverage deployed with precision. Rumours swirled that she'd orchestrated the deaths of Augustus's relatives, including his grandson Agr…