Tony Soprano's mom, Livia, may have been inspired by another famous Livia

References, please?

There are plenty in "The Sopranos." Writer David Chase sprinkled his mob series with allusions: many of them to other gangster movies like "Scarface," "Little Caesar" and the "Godfather" movies. Not to mention "Goodfellas," from which "The Sopranos" borrowed five cast members: Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Tony Sirico, Suzanne Shepherd and Frank Vincent.

Alert viewers have also spotted cribs from "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Island of Lost Souls" and "Silence of the Lambs."

One of the most interesting, noted by several fans, is Livia. She's Tony's elderly mother (played by the late Nancy Marchand) who schemes, from a nursing home, to have her son whacked.

Chase, for what it's worth, has stated that he based his Livia character on his own mother, Norma. But it's hard not to believe that he also had another Livia in mind.

Livia, wife of Caesar Augustus, was the principal — and delicious — villain in the great TV miniseries, "I, Claudius." That Livia, like the one in "The Sopranos," plays the part of a helpless, subordinate female, while having members of her family, including her own husband, whacked.

There's no question that "The Sopranos" draws a parallel between the ancient Romans and their distant descendants, plopped down in the Jersey marshlands. 

"You ever heard of Masada?" asks a Jewish businessman who confronts Tony in an early episode. "For two years, 900 Jews held their own against 15,000 Roman soldiers. They chose death before enslavement. The Romans? Where are they now?"

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"You're looking at them, (expletive)," Tony replies. 

"I, Claudius,"  based on the Robert Graves novels, mixes dirty deeds, appalling violence and family comedy in precisely the way that makes "The Sopranos" so unsettling.

Both Livias are ruthless, treacherous, willful and scheming. As Siân Phillips, who memorably played Livia in "I, Claudius," discovered when she visited empress Livia's actual house on Palatine Hill in Rome. It's still there.

"You notice, when you walk in, that no one can see you entering," Phillips told The Record in 1999. "But once you're in Livia's house, you can see everything that goes on. Nobody could see who came in or out, but she could see everything. Amazing."