Livia Drusilla
The wife of Octavian Augustus – Livia – took great care of her body, caring for both its beauty and health. She reportedly had a large number of hairdressers, masseuses, dressmakers, and jewellers among her servants.
She also had her own approach to medicine – she used the services of a whole group of doctors, followed diets, sometimes preventively supplemented her menu (which apparently served her because she lived 86 years) and prepared drugs according to her own recipes, incl. for constipation, angina, weakness.
She also had her own collection of dwarfs, among which was a certain Andromeda – the smallest dwarf in the world, about 70 centimetres tall.
Sources
- Matthew Dillon, ?Lynda Garland, Ancient Rome: Social and Historical Documents from the Early Republic to the Death of Augustus
- McKeown J. C., A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire, 2010
