ROYAL SCANDALS
Inside the warped world of schemes, murders and affairs that caused shock waves in antiquity
Royal scandals are nothing new – since the beginning of recorded history, society’s elites have been embroiled in torrid affairs, caught up in corruption and doing anything they can to gain and stay in power. And in antiquity, things were at times a little more… wild.
In a world where blood sports were major public events, it seems like no one would bat an eye to things like murder and prostitution, but emperors and kings knew how to take things just a bit too far. Family ties often didn’t mean much, either. Read on to find out about an emperor who banished his own daughter from the empire, an empress who blinded her son in a desperate bid to keep her crown, and a king so proud of his wife’s beauty that he wanted to show her off.
EMPEROR EXILES HIS DAUGHTER FOR ADULTERY
Being in the imperial family was no guarantee of safety, as Julia the Elder found out
2 BCE
Being the daughter of Rome’s first emperor was no assurance of safety – and that was something that Julia the Elder learnt the hard way. Her first two marriages, to Marcus Marcellus and Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, had both ended with the men’s deaths, so in 12 BCE Julia was forced into a union with her step-brother, Tiberius, the son of Augustus’ wife Livia from her first marriage.
It wasn’t the happiest of partnerships and rumours swirled around Rome of Julia finding satisfaction and affection elsewhere. When their infant son sadly died in 6 BCE, Tiberius left the city in a voluntary exile, leaving his wife behind. With no husband to hold her back, Julia’s appetite became more voracious as her affairs became less secretive. Another problem was Julia’s choice of partners. One was Iullus Antonius, the son of the late Mark Antony, her father’s former rival for the throne.
A heavy part of Augustus’ image to his people and his policies was his perfect family. His wife was loyal and womanly in her pursuits – having a married daughter who was accused of sleeping with half of Rome was a major issue. His first attempt to curb Julia’s actions was to threaten her with death, but he ended up exiling her from the city of Rome. She was sent first to Pandataria, an island off Campania, in 2 BCE. Six years later, she was moved to Rhegium, where she remained. When Tiberius, her cuckolded husband, came to the throne, he stopped her allowance. Julia, the daughter and wife of emperors, would die of malnutrition.
EGYPTIAN PHARAOH’S SECRET COMMONER LOVER?
Hatshepsut was thought to be having a love affair with her daughter’s tutor
1479-1458 BCE
Hatshepsut has righ
