Behind every great man is a great woman ....... or is there.
Guy de la Bedoyere, whom many might remember from his stint on Time Team as the resident Roman expert, has put together a well crafted narrative of the women behind the Imperial throne of the Roman Empire. It is, however, a narrow view, centred primarily on the women of the Julio- Claudine family (c.27BC - 68AD) - you know, the period that gave Rome its notoriety.
During this period, descent was largely through the female line however, through a series of carefully orchestrated "adoptions", the impression given outwardly was that succession came through the male lines. The use - quite literally - of female relatives to create and cement political and familial alliances was prolific. The majority were mere political pawns for the advancement of their families.
These women, so overtly (and oft times covertly) actively in politics, strayed outside the normal sphere of the good Roman wife, and thus became notorious in their own right. There is a good selection of women featured against a backdrop of scandal, political intrigue, family affairs, backstabbing, betrayal, madness and murder.
I particularly liked the wrap up of the latter Empresses till the fall of the Western Roman Empire; the invaluable timelime, and short who's who. For those with a penchant for all things Roman, this is a must have.
Read more here
Further Reading:
- The First Ladies of Rome: The Women Behind the Caesars by Annelise Freisenbruch
- Livia, Empress of Rome: A Biography by Matthew Dennison
- The Roman Empresses: Or, The History of the Lives and Secret Intrigues of the Wives of the Twelve Caesars, with Historical and Critical Notes (2 Vols) by Jacques Roergas De Serviez
- Staging Memory, Staging Strife: Empire and Civil War in the Octavia by Lauren Donovan Ginsberg
- Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire by Anthony Barrett
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