Livia

 Don't touch the figs."

- Livia to her son Tiberius

Livia is a character in the BBC mini-series I Claudius based on Robert Grave's novals I Claudius and Claudius the God. She is the fictionalized or at least exagerated version of real life historical figure Livia Drusilla wfie of Augustus Caesar. She kills numerus people in order to get her son Tiberius the throne when her husband dies. She is the grandmother of the story's first person narrator, Claudius.

Livia is lived through Rome's first civil-war and married her second husband Augustus because she saw he was the one who would put an end to it. She entered into the marriage with her son Tiberius from her first marriage and in the early days after the war helped her new husband establish order. But as the years wore on Augustus became more and more inclinded to listening to friends and family wgho were ether corrupt, dim, too old or just plain ill-expirenced to make state decisions or influnece Augustus on such decisions. As a result Livia begins to take it upon herself to kill off anyone Augustus might make his heir and lead Rome to a second civil War after he Augustus died. Livia wanted her son to rule because she could rule through him. All the rivials that might have earned Augustus's favor are killed off or banished or both by Livia or her agents. Claudius is one of the only people left alive who finds out the truth and eventually gets word to Augustus of what Livia has been doing. Livia could not find out who got word to Augustus but knew him well enough to have him watched. When Augustus went to change his Will out of Tiberius's favor Livia finally kills Augustus by poisoning his figs. Livia show little to no remourse for most of the murders and just thinks of it as what has to be done, but Augustus's murder is one she takes very personally and confesses that it was the hardest thing she ever had to do to Claudius in her twilight years.