Sword-and-sandals epic is no Roman holiday, even for an empress
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By Brad Newsome
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Stan, from Friday
The figure of Livia Drusilla looms large in the history of Rome. For 50 years the wife of Julius Caesarâs adopted son, the emperor Augustus Caesar, she gave birth to another emperor, Tiberius, and from her line followed Caligula, Claudius and Nero.
In between she became Romeâs most powerful empress. Of course, that makes things sound a good deal simpler than they were. And, as this handsome new drama series makes plain, none of it might have happened at all had Livia not been such an extraordinary woman in her own right. âHowever many men you kill â and I have had to kill many â you never forget your first,â the older Livia (Kasia Smutniak) reflects as the camera acquaints us with her younger self.
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