The power of I, Claudius

I am sure Rania will post about the historical scope of August 19th if she has not done so already, so I'll just mention two events. On this date in 14 AD, the first Roman emperor, Augustus, died. I will always think of him as he was portrayed in the excellent mini-series, I, Claudius,where his wife, Livia, wanted to poison him so her son could succeed him. But he was very careful about what he ate or drank. She outsmarted him, though, poisoning the figs in their garden as they remained on the tree. I understand that Robert Graves made her a far more sinister and murderous character than she actually was, but Sian Philipps's portrayal was so riveting that her Livia has eclipsed the real Livia for any of us who watched I, Claudius--rather the way the real Richard III has been overshadowed by Shakespeare's Richard. Also on this date in 1284, England was denied the opportunity to have a King Alphonso by the death of Edward I and Eleanora of Castille's eldest son by that name, at the age of only 11.