Editing Livia (section)

===In modern literature===
In the popular fictional work ''[[I, Claudius]]'' by [[Robert Graves]]—based on Tacitus' innuendo—Livia is portrayed as a thoroughly [[Niccolò Machiavelli|Machiavellian]], scheming political mastermind.  Determined never to allow republican governance to flower again, as she felt they led to corruption and civil war, and devoted to bringing Tiberius to power and then maintaining him there, she is involved in nearly every death or disgrace in the [[Julio-Claudian dynasty|Julio-Claudian]] family up to the time of her death.  On her deathbed she only fears divine punishment for all she had done, and secures the promise of future deification by her grandson Claudius, an act which, she believes, will guarantee her a blissful afterlife. However, this portrait of her is balanced by her intense devotion to the well-being of the Empire as a whole, and her machinations are justified as a necessarily cruel means to what she firmly considers a noble aspiration: the common good of the Romans, achievable only under strict imperial rule.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/02/featuresreviews.guardianreview26|title=Unreliable witness|first=Barry|last=Unsworth|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=2 September 2006|access-date=15 July 2022|language=en-uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/what-makes-a-good-ancient-world-drama/|title=What Makes a Good Ancient World Drama?|first=Juliette|last=Harrisson|website=[[Den of Geek]]|date=4 May 2018|access-date=15 July 2022|language=en-us}}</ref>
In [[John Maddox Roberts]]'s short story "The King of Sacrifices," set in his [[SPQR series]], Livia hires Decius Metellus to investigate the murder of one of [[Julia the Elder]]'s lovers. 
In ''[[Masters of Rome|Antony and Cleopatra]]'' by [[Colleen McCullough]], Livia is portrayed as a cunning and effective advisor to her husband, whom she loves passionately.
Luke Devenish's "Empress of Rome" novels, ''Den of Wolves'' (2008) and ''Nest of Vipers'' (2010), have Livia as a central character in a fictionalized account of her life and times.
Livia plays an important role in two Marcus Corvinus mysteries by David Wishart, ''Ovid'' (1995) and ''Germanicus'' (1997). She is mentioned posthumously in ''Sejanus'' (1998).