ABSTRACT
Augustus’ family endured for six generations-that is, well over a century counting from the murder of Caesar in 44 BC to the suicide of Nero in AD 68. I do not pretend to compete with the author of the famous novel I Claudius. My intention is to analyse how a new family unit, different in many respects from the traditional patrilinear group-the gens-that was the traditional structure of the Roman family, was constructed, reproduced and continued, and particularly to examine why and how women were involved in the transmission of legitimacy.
