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40th out of 57 books
—
32 voters
The Murder of Regilla: A Case of Domestic Violence in Antiquity
From an acclaimed author comes a fascinating story of the life, marriage, and death of an all but forgotten Roman woman. Born to an illustrious Roman family in 125 CE, Regilla was married at the age of fifteen to Herodes, a wealthy Greek who championed his country's values at a time when Rome ruled.
Twenty years later--and eight months pregnant with her sixth child--Regilla...more
Twenty years later--and eight months pregnant with her sixth child--Regilla...more
Hardcover, 249 pages
Published
September 1st 2007
by Harvard University Press
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Overall I was very disappointed in this book. While I did learn some interesting facts about Regilla, it really didn't make up for some of the issues. First, Pomeroy doesn't seem to know if her audience consists of professional historians or the lay reader. She explains common terms, but not some of the rarer ones. Second, it seems as if her book is more of a "Hey take me seriously as a historian" cry. She spends so much time explaining why this work was needed that it wears thin. State the case...more
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It's difficult to understand the low ratings this book receives, especially considering the high praise it has gotten from the author's peers (the august Bryn Mawr Classical Review, for one). It truly fills a gap in our understanding of the lives of women in the Roman Empire and, for that matter, ancient women's lives in general. And it is written in an accessible manner, with full notes and appropriate illustrations that do much to expand and inform the text.
Sarah Pomeroy is a well-known and re...more
Sarah Pomeroy is a well-known and re...more
Basically, this book is about a real murder case from Ancient Rome. A man beat his pregnant wife to death, to the scandal of everyone. Regilla's husband was obviously gay. Even the homoerotic Romans thought he paid a little bit too much attention to his male paramours. What role this played in the murder, though, is anyone's guess.
I think this book could have been a lot more interesting than it was, considering the topic, but academic writing is often very dry and we must forgive that fact. It w...more
I think this book could have been a lot more interesting than it was, considering the topic, but academic writing is often very dry and we must forgive that fact. It w...more
I quite liked this, although it felt short to me -- perhaps because a lot of it is conjecture (although drawn from the life of Regilla's husband, and on the lives of Greek and Roman women in general). The research is excellent, but the story fell a little flat for me.
This is a very scholarly book but very interesting. I think the author does her best to make her book as much of a story as possible. You will learn a lot of interesting facts about Ancient Greece, Rome, and the domestic life of the time period. The story itself is heartbreaking and I think she has a strong case that Regilla was murdered. She basis her thesis on a variety of actual documentation, other scholarly research, and the archeological discoveries from the area. The book has definitely p...more
Patrician Roman woman marries a rich Greek ""new man"" in second century AD Imperial Rome. He's a misogynist sophist trying to be an "insider" in the Empire, she's a cosmopolitan urban woman crushed by Greek expectations of women who are kept segregated and breeding while the men spend their time with bright young boys. This is a culture, political and gender clash that ends in murder, as Regilla's husband kicks her to death when she's eight months pregnant, and her Roman family sues him for wro...more
Although there's sexual inuendo (man/woman, man/man, man/boy) and a tragic murder described in this little non-fiction book, it's not necessarily a captivating read. What's compelling and rare is that this book is all about a Roman woman in Antiquity. Regilla's entire privileged and "quasi-divine" life is explored and revisited from a contemporary female scholar's perspective. The ultimate tragedy is that her death (and that of her 8 month old fetus) nearly 2,000 years ago was more than likely o...more
The contrast between the treatment an upper class Roman wife and an upper class Greek wife was interesting, but there were some flaws in presentation (repetition of information, lack of constancy in terms, etc)
Jan 28, 2013
Sobia
marked it as to-read
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Casey
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Shira
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Diana
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Aug 08, 2011
Oana
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John somers
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