Ancient Classics at Maynooth University

My Great Grandfather was Greek. I believe he would agree, I should never live somewhere hot. I am completely bad at summer.

Livia Drusilla (58 BCE to 29 CE) was the most powerful woman of the early Roman Empire, and many historians insist she was the most powerful ever to have lived. As the wife of Caesar Augustus, she not only had the Emperor’s ear, but, if he was slow in implementing her advice, she could just do it herself, and pretend it had been his idea. Besides guiding the first Emperor through his career, she gave birth to the lines of its next four emperors as well, to wit: son Tiberius Caesar, grandson Claudius, great-grandson Caligula, and great-great-grandson Nero. A simple review of this line of succession provides the strongest of all reasons why empires do tend to become so fragile.

She was the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, a close friend and fellow-conspirator of Marcus Brutus, and among the slayers of Caesar, which Mark Antony chased out of Italy. They regrouped in Greece, but Antony pressed them so hard most of them committed su***de, including Livia’s father. When Otavian (soon to become Emperor Caesar Augustus) came into power, the families of the assassins were pardoned and they returned to Rome, including Livia, then married to Tiberius Claudius Nero, and very pregnant. Caesar himself had set up the Empire, but the power structure had never been established, and there was much work to be done.

When Octavian first met with Livia, he recognized in her a determined capacity for devious and pernicious intrigue that would tolerate no element of opposition – and he knew that, with her at his side, the Empire would succeed, and strengthen under their rule. As it did. They immediately divorced their spouses, and three days after giving birth, Livia’s ex-husband stood for her at her marriage to the new emperor, Caesar
Augustus (Octavian). That marriage lasted over 50 years while she wove her lines of power; and these were often difficult years, especially as Livia had a lot of scores to settle from her time of exile – even her husband’s descendants proved mysteriously short-lived. Indeed, Livia’s grasp on who should be in power, and who should not, was as firm as the hand of death.

In the end, the two not only recognized how much they needed each other, but they came to fear each other as well – thus attaining a kind of wisdom few such unions can boast. Power is a balancing act, and is not only a source of capacity, but of great caution as well.
Sculpture by Lisa Lichtenfels, Realism in Fabric

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Cleopatra ascended the throne at the age of 17 and died at the age of 39. She spoke 9 languages. She knew the language of Ancient Egypt and had learned to read hieroglyphics, a unique case in her dynasty. Apart from this, she knew Greek and the languages ​​of the Parthians, Hebrews, Medes, Troglodytes, Syrians, Ethiopians, and Arabs.
With this knowledge, any book in the world was open to her. In addition to languages, she studied geography, history, astronomy, international diplomacy, mathematics, alchemy, medicine, zoology, economics, and other disciplines. She tried to access all the knowledge of her time.
Cleopatra spent a lot of time in a kind of ancient laboratory. She wrote some works related to herbs and cosmetics. Unfortunately, all her books were destroyed in the fire of the great Library of Alexandria in 391 AD. C. The famous physicist Galen studied her work, and was able to transcribe some of the recipes devised by Cleopatra.
One of these remedies, which Galen also recommended to her patients, was a special cream that could help bald men regain their hair. Cleopatra's books also included beauty tips, but none of them have come down to us.
The queen of Egypt was also interested in herbal healing, and thanks to her knowledge of languages, she had access to numerous papyri that are lost today. Her influence on the sciences and medicine was well known in the early centuries of Christianity. She, without a doubt, is a unique figure in the history of humanity.

True 😂 ~Vampire fae