Why read Imperial Women of Rome?

Book cover of Imperial Women of Rome: Power, Gender, Context

Book description

The Imperial Women of Rome explores the constraints and activities of the women who were part of Rome's imperial families from 35 BCE to 235 CE, the Roman principate. Boatwright uses coins, inscriptions, papyri, material culture, and archaeology, as well as the more familiar but biased ancient authors, to depict…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Imperial Women of Rome as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Eve D'Ambra

Author

It is a learned but lucid work that shows us why we don't know the names of many of the emperors' wives and female kin. Boatwright looks at a range of activities of the imperial women across Roman institutions (the imperial gov't and its laws, the military machine, and the family and the court). Important now to understand how power takes hold in conservative, entrenched societies, and how leading women are exploited in these regimes.

From Eve's list on The best books on women in Ancient Rome that cut the clichés.