Aufidia

Aufidia or Alfidia (flourished 1st century BC), was a Roman Matron. Aufidia was a daughter to Roman Magistrate Marcus Aufidius Lurco and her mother is unknown. She was a member of the gens Aufidius, a Roman family of Plebs status, who appeared in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. They became a family of consular rank. Her father originally came from Fundi (modern Fondi, Italy).

She married the future praetor, Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus. They had at least two children: a daughter Livia Drusilla (58 BC-29) and a son Marcus Livius Drusus, who served as a Roman consul. Livia was to become the first Roman Empress and third wife of the first Roman Emperor Augustus. Aufidia would be the maternal grandmother to Roman Emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero and Roman General Nero Claudius Drusus. The Roman Emperors Caligula, Claudius and Nero were her direct descendants.

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 Octavian's sister Octavia's loyalty to her family at dinner, and is present when Octavian's mother Atia of the Julii finally puts daughter-in-law Livia in her place.

ources

* [http://www.roman-emperors.org/livia.htm Livia: Wife of Augustus Roman-Emperors.org]
* Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Tiberius and Caligula
* http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1088.html
* http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1089.html