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

Today's post is on A Rome of One's Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire by Emma Southon. It is 416 pages long and is publsihed by Harry N. Abrams. The audiobook was read by Danielle Cohen. The cover is light blue with a marble bust in the center and a magnifying glass enlarging the face. The intended reader is someone who likes roman history and women's history. There is foul language, discussion of sex, rape, childbirth, and violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the audiobook- 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 twenty-one extraordinary women to upend our understanding of the ancient world The history of Rome has long been narrow and one-sided, essentially a history of "the Doing of Important Things." It is a history of winning battles, passing laws, and "Having Important Opinions in Public." And as far as Roman historians have been concerned, women don't make that history. From Romulus through "the political stab-fest of the late Republic," and then on to all the emperors, Roman historians may deign to give you a wife or a mother to show how bad things get when women get out of control, but history is more than that. Emma Southon's A Rome of One's Own will correct that. This is a retelling of the history of Rome with the Important Things, but also all the things Roman history writers relegate to the background--or designate as domestic, feminine, or worthless. This is a history of individuals, twenty-one women who span the length of its territory and its centuries, who caused outrage, led armies in rebellion, wrote poetry, lived independently or under the thumb of emperors. A social and cultural history told with humor and verve as well as a deep scholarly background, A Rome of One's Own highlights women overlooked and misunderstood, and through them offers a fascinating and groundbreaking chronicle of the ancient world.

Review- A great book about Roman history and the women who lived it. Southon returns with more fascinating stories about Rome and the people who lived in the enteral city. She starts at the very founding of Rome and the women who kidnapped to become the very first Roman women. Then we travel all along the republic and then empire and learned about women's lives. The writing is excellent, the narratives are interesting, and the reader does a wonderful job. I would recommend this book and I look forward to Southon's next book. 

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this audiobook from my local library.