Domina The women who made Imperial Rome

Apart from certain priesthoods, Roman society denied opportunities to women. This book deals with women of the imperial households who broke through these formidable barriers and achieved political sway. The focus is on imperial women of the Julio-Claudian period. (27 BCE--68 CE): Livia, the wife of the emperor Augustus, promoted an image of pudicitia (chastity), though she wielded power as a ruthless "Ulysses in a skirt." But many others, such as Nero's mother Agrippina and his wife Poppaea Sabina, made no pretense to virtue as they brutally marched to political power. De la Bédoyère (independent scholar) finds the sensational reports about leading imperial women in classical sources generally plausible. He makes clever use of numismatic evidence (engravings on coins) and psychological analysis to flesh out the dominant roles of these women. The epilogue (about 30 pages) deals with imperial women of the middle and late empire. The ambitious women of these eras never reached the villainous level of their Julio-Claudian counterparts, nor exerted such a destabilizing influence. This was a result of the Near Eastern origins of the Severan Dynasty (193--235 CE) and fourth-century Christian influences. Although this book is replete with scholarly discussions, it reads smoothly. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Anthony J. Papalas, emeritus, East Carolina University