ABSTRACT
We do not know where Julia’s mother Scribonia lived after Octavian divorced her, nor when her father took his child to live with her new stepmother in his house on the Palatine. But we do know quite a lot about the house where Julia spent much of her childhood both from texts and from archaeological excavations. Perhaps it would be best, however, to begin with some comments about the difference between elite Roman attitudes to their town and country houses and the expectations and the preferences of present-day political leaders.
