ABSTRACT
The 30s BC witnessed an intensification of the struggle between Octavian and Antony, to which Fulvia had made such a notable contribution until her death. The third man, Lepidus, left the triumvirate in 36, but meanwhile Sex. Pompeius had forced his way in, assisted by the diplomatic efforts of his mother, Mucia. But by 35 it had resolved itself into a straight fight between Octavian and Antony. Until the final military confrontation which settled the issue in 31-30, the struggle was waged with non-warlike weapons. Diplomatic activity was prominent, as we have already gathered from Mucia’s history. An even more extensive participation in that aspect of the struggle is attested for Octavian’s sister, Octavia. She and Octavian’s wife, Livia, also played a prominent, albeit passive, part in another ‘peaceful’ aspect, namely the intensive propaganda war of the 30s. That war indirectly prompted the weaving of the first strand in the creation of the Domus Caesarum, and the Domus in turn was the crucial factor in defining the status of the imperial women.
