Why read A Rome of One's Own?

Book cover of A Rome of One's Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire

Book description

From the acclaimed author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, a wildly entertaining new history of Rome that uses the lives of 21 women to upend our understanding of the ancient world

The history of Rome has long been narrow and one-sided, essentially a history…

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Why read it?

1 author picked A Rome of One's Own as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Rachel Kousser

Author

Very few histories of Rome manage to be both trenchant and laugh-out-loud funny. Emma Southon’s is one. I was laughing and wincing at the same time. I was especially impressed because many of the figures Southon discusses (Tanaquil, Lucretia, Tarpeia) are shrouded in Rome’s self-serving patriotic myths.

Southon tells their stories in a colorful, empathetic narrative that dares to imagine what the women’s point of view might have been like. She also makes clear how much Rome, that quintessentially patriarchal ancient empire, imagined itself as founded on the bodies of women.

From Rachel's list on ancient goddesses heroines from a woman’s viewpoint.