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Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome
A captivating popular history that shines a light on the notorious Julio-Claudian women who forged an empire
Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero—these are the names history associates with the early Roman Empire. Yet, not a single one of these emperors was the blood son of his predecessor. In this captivating history, a prominent scholar of the era documents the Julio-Claudian women whose bloodline, ambition, and ruthlessness made it possible for the emperors’ line to continue.
Eminent scholar Guy de la Bédoyère, author of Praetorian, asserts that the women behind the scenes—including Livia, Octavia, and the elder and younger Agrippina—were the true backbone of the dynasty. De la Bédoyère draws on the accounts of ancient Roman historians to revisit a familiar time from a completely fresh vantage point. Anyone who enjoys I, Claudius will be fascinated by this study of dynastic power and gender interplay in ancient Rome.
Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero—these are the names history associates with the early Roman Empire. Yet, not a single one of these emperors was the blood son of his predecessor. In this captivating history, a prominent scholar of the era documents the Julio-Claudian women whose bloodline, ambition, and ruthlessness made it possible for the emperors’ line to continue.
Eminent scholar Guy de la Bédoyère, author of Praetorian, asserts that the women behind the scenes—including Livia, Octavia, and the elder and younger Agrippina—were the true backbone of the dynasty. De la Bédoyère draws on the accounts of ancient Roman historians to revisit a familiar time from a completely fresh vantage point. Anyone who enjoys I, Claudius will be fascinated by this study of dynastic power and gender interplay in ancient Rome.
408 pages, Hardcover
First published October 30, 2018
157 people are currently reading
1135 people want to read
About the author
Guy de la Bédoyère
62 books106 followersGuy de la Bédoyère is author of a widely admired series of books on Roman history. He appeared regularly on the UK’s Channel 4 archaeology series Time Team and is well known in the United States for his volume The Romans for Dummies. His latest books are Gladius. Living, Fighting, and Dying in the Roman Army (2020), and Pharaohs of the Sun. How Egypt's Despots and Dreamers Drove the Rise and Fall of Tutankhamun's Dynasty (2022). He lives in Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
July 8, 2019
A decent if selective popular history of Imperial women that suffers somewhat from repeated tangents and a failure in writing style.
ARC via Netgalley
ARC via Netgalley
August 15, 2023
Cannot locate the NG review
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Royal reads project
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Royal reads project
July 19, 2020
Title: Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome
Author: Guy de la Bédoyère
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 22874 KB
Print Length: 408 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press (30 October 2018)
Sold by: Amazon Asia-Pacific Holdings Private Limited
Language: English
Price: 2800/-
In launching an assessment of the all-embracing and multipurpose theme of women’s function and character in Ancient Roman society it is for the most part imperative to commit to memory that whether or not one is looking at a commoner’s wife, a harlot, a deity or for that matter an empress, one is perceiving them through the kaleidoscopic vision of a male.
Almost no female voice is found to reverberate through history, telling the account of her sex and how they felt about their location in society. Instead there are only dully mannish accents, portraying expectations and conveying women as either the failure or satisfaction of these. That said, we do have sufficient variety within our male sources to assemble a reasonably exact notion of what women’s lives looked like in the Great Roman Empire.
Ancient Rome was misogynistic. Here, women did not have the benefit of equivalent citizen rights. That said, if we look hard at the history, we discover some women who succeeded in making their presence felt, either working within their prearranged gender roles as wives, lovers, mothers, sisters or daughters, or exercising so much political, religious or, even in a few cases, military power that they smashed those roles altogether and struck out on their own.
Some of their names may be familiar, like Livia, Boudicca and Saint Helena. Livia was wife and partner to one emperor, Augustus, and mother to another, Tiberius; Boudicca led a British revolt against Roman rule; and Helena was mother and advisor to the first Christian emperor, Constantine. But there are other unsung women heroes who are equally fascinating.
Domina: the women who made imperial Rome is an interesting account of the few women who were able, for better or worse, to gain some notion of power during the age of imperial Rome. De la Bedoyere manages, despite not only the lack of evidence, but also the extreme bias held against women (and especially these women) from Roman writers, to construct humanizing portraits.
The author divides the book in eleven sections:
1 Virtue, Honour and Chastity
2 Age of the Imperators: Cleopatra, Fulvia and Livia 44–31 bc
3 Women in the Augustan State: 31 bc–ad 14
4 Forging the Future: Livia, Octavia and Julia 27 bc–ad 14
5 The Dowager Empress and Matriarch: Livia 14–29
6 Impatient for Equality: Agrippina the Elder 29–41
7 Self-Destruction: Messalina 41–8
8 The Reign of Agrippina the Younger: Part 1 49–54
9 The Reign of Agrippina the Younger: Part 2 54–9
10 Murder: Agrippina, Claudia Octavia and Poppaea 59–68
11 Epilogue: The Severan and Other Empresses
De la Bedoyere begins his study with an explanation of the Roman concept of the virtuous woman, wife, and mother, which is epitomized by Livia, Octavia, Agrippina the Elder, and Antonia Minor. In direct contrast are the two Julias, daughter and grand daughter of Augustus, and Messalina. The best chapters of the book focus primarily on Livia, the two sad Julias, Agrippina the elder, the infamous Messalina and Agrippina the Younger (the mother and victim of Nero). De la Bedoyere explains how the emperors themselves dealt with their female relations, from deifying them to having them killed, not exactly happy families. The chapters on Messalina and Aggrippina the Younger are simply astounding. These women are vibrantly portrayed, shown in ruthless pursuit of their own goals, and clearly outshine Claudius and Nero in the narrative. I get a good sense of them as personalities and I’m unlikely to forget them. I found myself wishing the whole book was like that. In the final chapter, the reader gets a nice compact history of the whole rest of the Western Empire. The bibliography and index attached are brilliant in its own right.
The drawbacks are: 1) In places the inner working’s of a woman’s mind has been done away with and in place the reader finds mindless autobots in pursuit of their own goals, manipulating men with aplomb. 2) In the chapters on Augustus and Tiberius, the author lends overt consideration to Augustus than to the women. Women are interpreted principally in terms of how they affect Augustan policy. 3) The narratives on Livia, Julia the Elder, the Antonias, and Aggrippina the Elder are told almost half-heartedly.
All said and done, the reader is presented with tales of women, who navigated the challenging male-dominated topography and managed to leave a major mark on the course of events.
These are women, whose names we don’t always learn about in history class. Nevertheless, their stories are inspiring and merit telling. Without acknowledging these, the story of Rome becomes a purely masculine one, which does not capture the whys and wherefores behind many of the leaders and soldiers who rose to power in the first place.
Author: Guy de la Bédoyère
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 22874 KB
Print Length: 408 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press (30 October 2018)
Sold by: Amazon Asia-Pacific Holdings Private Limited
Language: English
Price: 2800/-
In launching an assessment of the all-embracing and multipurpose theme of women’s function and character in Ancient Roman society it is for the most part imperative to commit to memory that whether or not one is looking at a commoner’s wife, a harlot, a deity or for that matter an empress, one is perceiving them through the kaleidoscopic vision of a male.
Almost no female voice is found to reverberate through history, telling the account of her sex and how they felt about their location in society. Instead there are only dully mannish accents, portraying expectations and conveying women as either the failure or satisfaction of these. That said, we do have sufficient variety within our male sources to assemble a reasonably exact notion of what women’s lives looked like in the Great Roman Empire.
Ancient Rome was misogynistic. Here, women did not have the benefit of equivalent citizen rights. That said, if we look hard at the history, we discover some women who succeeded in making their presence felt, either working within their prearranged gender roles as wives, lovers, mothers, sisters or daughters, or exercising so much political, religious or, even in a few cases, military power that they smashed those roles altogether and struck out on their own.
Some of their names may be familiar, like Livia, Boudicca and Saint Helena. Livia was wife and partner to one emperor, Augustus, and mother to another, Tiberius; Boudicca led a British revolt against Roman rule; and Helena was mother and advisor to the first Christian emperor, Constantine. But there are other unsung women heroes who are equally fascinating.
Domina: the women who made imperial Rome is an interesting account of the few women who were able, for better or worse, to gain some notion of power during the age of imperial Rome. De la Bedoyere manages, despite not only the lack of evidence, but also the extreme bias held against women (and especially these women) from Roman writers, to construct humanizing portraits.
The author divides the book in eleven sections:
1 Virtue, Honour and Chastity
2 Age of the Imperators: Cleopatra, Fulvia and Livia 44–31 bc
3 Women in the Augustan State: 31 bc–ad 14
4 Forging the Future: Livia, Octavia and Julia 27 bc–ad 14
5 The Dowager Empress and Matriarch: Livia 14–29
6 Impatient for Equality: Agrippina the Elder 29–41
7 Self-Destruction: Messalina 41–8
8 The Reign of Agrippina the Younger: Part 1 49–54
9 The Reign of Agrippina the Younger: Part 2 54–9
10 Murder: Agrippina, Claudia Octavia and Poppaea 59–68
11 Epilogue: The Severan and Other Empresses
De la Bedoyere begins his study with an explanation of the Roman concept of the virtuous woman, wife, and mother, which is epitomized by Livia, Octavia, Agrippina the Elder, and Antonia Minor. In direct contrast are the two Julias, daughter and grand daughter of Augustus, and Messalina. The best chapters of the book focus primarily on Livia, the two sad Julias, Agrippina the elder, the infamous Messalina and Agrippina the Younger (the mother and victim of Nero). De la Bedoyere explains how the emperors themselves dealt with their female relations, from deifying them to having them killed, not exactly happy families. The chapters on Messalina and Aggrippina the Younger are simply astounding. These women are vibrantly portrayed, shown in ruthless pursuit of their own goals, and clearly outshine Claudius and Nero in the narrative. I get a good sense of them as personalities and I’m unlikely to forget them. I found myself wishing the whole book was like that. In the final chapter, the reader gets a nice compact history of the whole rest of the Western Empire. The bibliography and index attached are brilliant in its own right.
The drawbacks are: 1) In places the inner working’s of a woman’s mind has been done away with and in place the reader finds mindless autobots in pursuit of their own goals, manipulating men with aplomb. 2) In the chapters on Augustus and Tiberius, the author lends overt consideration to Augustus than to the women. Women are interpreted principally in terms of how they affect Augustan policy. 3) The narratives on Livia, Julia the Elder, the Antonias, and Aggrippina the Elder are told almost half-heartedly.
All said and done, the reader is presented with tales of women, who navigated the challenging male-dominated topography and managed to leave a major mark on the course of events.
These are women, whose names we don’t always learn about in history class. Nevertheless, their stories are inspiring and merit telling. Without acknowledging these, the story of Rome becomes a purely masculine one, which does not capture the whys and wherefores behind many of the leaders and soldiers who rose to power in the first place.
September 2, 2018
Behind every great man is a great woman ....... or is there.
Guy de la Bedoyere, whom many might remember from his stint on Time Team as the resident Roman expert, has put together a well crafted narrative of the women behind the Imperial throne of the Roman Empire. It is, however, a narrow view, centred primarily on the women of the Julio- Claudine family (c.27BC - 68AD) - you know, the period that gave Rome its notoriety.
During this period, descent was largely through the female line however, through a series of carefully orchestrated "adoptions", the impression given outwardly was that succession came through the male lines. The use - quite literally - of female relatives to create and cement political and familial alliances was prolific. The majority were mere political pawns for the advancement of their families.
These women, so overtly (and oft times covertly) actively in politics, strayed outside the normal sphere of the good Roman wife, and thus became notorious in their own right. There is a good selection of women featured against a backdrop of scandal, political intrigue, family affairs, backstabbing, betrayal, madness and murder.
I particularly liked the wrap up of the latter Empresses till the fall of the Western Roman Empire; the invaluable timelime, and short who's who. For those with a penchant for all things Roman, this is a must have.
Guy de la Bedoyere, whom many might remember from his stint on Time Team as the resident Roman expert, has put together a well crafted narrative of the women behind the Imperial throne of the Roman Empire. It is, however, a narrow view, centred primarily on the women of the Julio- Claudine family (c.27BC - 68AD) - you know, the period that gave Rome its notoriety.
During this period, descent was largely through the female line however, through a series of carefully orchestrated "adoptions", the impression given outwardly was that succession came through the male lines. The use - quite literally - of female relatives to create and cement political and familial alliances was prolific. The majority were mere political pawns for the advancement of their families.
These women, so overtly (and oft times covertly) actively in politics, strayed outside the normal sphere of the good Roman wife, and thus became notorious in their own right. There is a good selection of women featured against a backdrop of scandal, political intrigue, family affairs, backstabbing, betrayal, madness and murder.
I particularly liked the wrap up of the latter Empresses till the fall of the Western Roman Empire; the invaluable timelime, and short who's who. For those with a penchant for all things Roman, this is a must have.
May 15, 2024
This was a bit of a disappointment to me. It's not bad, it just didn't feel enough like "The Women Who Made Imperial Rome."
With the exception of the final chapter (which I liked a great deal), the book focused on the Augustinian period in Ancient Rome. So of course, we get a lot about Julia, Octavia, Agrippina (both of them), Messalina, and other women of the era. However, throughout the book (again, with the exception of the last chapter), it felt we got far more about the men of the Augustan era. At times, in fact, it felt as if 90% of the book was about the men (Augustus, Nero, Claudius, Tiberius, etc.) and only 10% about the women.
Don't get me wrong, I did learn some new things in this book (and at this point I've read a fair amount about the time period), but it seemed as if I learned more about the men than the women.
The last chapter was more like what I expected throughout the book, with an analysis of factors that held back women, how they were able to work through the men to achieve power, and how they were hampered.
With the exception of the final chapter (which I liked a great deal), the book focused on the Augustinian period in Ancient Rome. So of course, we get a lot about Julia, Octavia, Agrippina (both of them), Messalina, and other women of the era. However, throughout the book (again, with the exception of the last chapter), it felt we got far more about the men of the Augustan era. At times, in fact, it felt as if 90% of the book was about the men (Augustus, Nero, Claudius, Tiberius, etc.) and only 10% about the women.
Don't get me wrong, I did learn some new things in this book (and at this point I've read a fair amount about the time period), but it seemed as if I learned more about the men than the women.
The last chapter was more like what I expected throughout the book, with an analysis of factors that held back women, how they were able to work through the men to achieve power, and how they were hampered.
January 15, 2025
the julio-claudian line being dependent on the woman’s lineage over the man’s IS livia’s biggest flex like julio-claudian women got stuff DONE
November 19, 2019
I wrote a review for this ages ago and deleted it because I can be a twit sometimes.
I can’t give a comprehensive view now as it has been so long but for LGBT+ folks here’s a warning for homophobic and transphobic language used in this book. I can’t say it is of the times as there is no evidence provided that these were views that Romans held. A person who, if alive now, would be considered transgender or gender non conforming as well as bisexual is repeatedly reffed to as a freak along with other negatives.
I can’t give a comprehensive view now as it has been so long but for LGBT+ folks here’s a warning for homophobic and transphobic language used in this book. I can’t say it is of the times as there is no evidence provided that these were views that Romans held. A person who, if alive now, would be considered transgender or gender non conforming as well as bisexual is repeatedly reffed to as a freak along with other negatives.
February 26, 2019
This is a worthy attempt to tackle a strangely overlooked aspect of Roman history. The two longest dynasties were the Julio-Claudians (27 BC-AD68) and the Severans (193-235), but both only survived as long as they did because the bloodline was passed down through women. In other words, the only reason these dynasties existed was because of the women. Nero (54-68), for example, was the son of Agrippina the Younger, who was the daughter of Agrippina the Elder, who was the daughter of Julia the Elder, who was Augustus' daughter. He was also descended down different routes from Augustus's sister Octavia and Augustus's wife Livia by her first husband. Claudius (41-54) wasn't descended from Augustus at all, but he was descended from Octavia and Livia.
This fact was ignored by Roman historians and set to one side by most modern historians who generally build their narratives round the reigns of the male emperors. This presented the author with a problem because there is nothing like as much evidence for the lives of the women as there is for the men. Suetonius, Tacitus and Dio for example mention them only in passing. Suetonius wrote his lives of the Julio-Claudian emperors but it never occurred to him to write biographies of the empresses. When Roman historians did write about women they did so by pigeonholing them either as heroic matronly figures if impeccable virtue like Augustus' sister Octavia, or as scheming harridans like Agrippina the Younger who destabilized the state. Domina tries to weave a narrative of the period through the lives of the women of the imperial families, showing that while women were able to have huge amounts of power and influence which was not limited by formal office (which they could not hold), they were dependent on doing so only through their husbands or sons.
Does this work? Yes and no. The author is trapped to some extent by the limitations of the available sources though he tries to find ways to balance their prejudice. He explains that Roman historians used women as rhetorical devices. For example, depicting Agrippina the Younger as an evil empress bent on personal power and enriching herself was useful to Tacitus because it was a means of criticizing her husband Claudius and her son Nero for being defective emperors. Had they been stronger or more suitable, Tacitus implies, then Agrippina would have been kept in check. But this means getting at the truth about her is difficult or impossible. This begs the question of whether the book was worth writing since perhaps it really isn't possible to get at the truth.
The author also cannot avoid mentioning the men. That's not his fault - they included the emperors and he explains this early on. They are also the main source of evidence for the period.
The book opens with a longish section on background and the position of women in Roman society. For example, women were expected to maintain their sexual chastity (pudicitia) at any price because that enhanced the status of their husbands and families. Women who did not act appropriately could damage Roman society by 'effeminating' their husbands - Fulvia, wife of Mark Antony, was accused of that. This section of the book is quite long-winded and could have been more tightly edited.
The book includes an epilogue which covers the Severan dynasty. This is useful because it shows the traditional Roman perceptions of women and intolerance of those who stepped outside their sphere lasted a very long time. However, it could be seen as having nothing to do with the main narrative and as such as superfluous.
The book has maps, a full set of family trees, biographical information about all the main women mentioned, and is fully referenced from start to finish. This means that even if you disagree with the author's judgements you can see where he obtained his evidence and follow it up for yourself. And his research is right up to date as the extensive bibliography demonstrates.
I found it readable and a useful twist on what is otherwise a well-known period of history. However, it's heavy going in places with all the names and details so it does need close attention. I've given it four stars but I can quite easily see I or someone else might have given it three. Looking at some of the criticisms I have read here it's obvious that this is a tricky subject these days, and seems to provoke responses from people with their own axes to grind that don't necessarily have anything to do with the book. For example, it would be quite easy to make out that the women were the only victims of the system, since almost all were executed, murdered or otherwise subjected to unpleasant ends. Actually, almost all the men involved also died degrading or humiliating deaths and sometimes on the orders of women. If there was one thing I learned from Domina it was that it was all about power and in different ways almost everyone was a victim.
This fact was ignored by Roman historians and set to one side by most modern historians who generally build their narratives round the reigns of the male emperors. This presented the author with a problem because there is nothing like as much evidence for the lives of the women as there is for the men. Suetonius, Tacitus and Dio for example mention them only in passing. Suetonius wrote his lives of the Julio-Claudian emperors but it never occurred to him to write biographies of the empresses. When Roman historians did write about women they did so by pigeonholing them either as heroic matronly figures if impeccable virtue like Augustus' sister Octavia, or as scheming harridans like Agrippina the Younger who destabilized the state. Domina tries to weave a narrative of the period through the lives of the women of the imperial families, showing that while women were able to have huge amounts of power and influence which was not limited by formal office (which they could not hold), they were dependent on doing so only through their husbands or sons.
Does this work? Yes and no. The author is trapped to some extent by the limitations of the available sources though he tries to find ways to balance their prejudice. He explains that Roman historians used women as rhetorical devices. For example, depicting Agrippina the Younger as an evil empress bent on personal power and enriching herself was useful to Tacitus because it was a means of criticizing her husband Claudius and her son Nero for being defective emperors. Had they been stronger or more suitable, Tacitus implies, then Agrippina would have been kept in check. But this means getting at the truth about her is difficult or impossible. This begs the question of whether the book was worth writing since perhaps it really isn't possible to get at the truth.
The author also cannot avoid mentioning the men. That's not his fault - they included the emperors and he explains this early on. They are also the main source of evidence for the period.
The book opens with a longish section on background and the position of women in Roman society. For example, women were expected to maintain their sexual chastity (pudicitia) at any price because that enhanced the status of their husbands and families. Women who did not act appropriately could damage Roman society by 'effeminating' their husbands - Fulvia, wife of Mark Antony, was accused of that. This section of the book is quite long-winded and could have been more tightly edited.
The book includes an epilogue which covers the Severan dynasty. This is useful because it shows the traditional Roman perceptions of women and intolerance of those who stepped outside their sphere lasted a very long time. However, it could be seen as having nothing to do with the main narrative and as such as superfluous.
The book has maps, a full set of family trees, biographical information about all the main women mentioned, and is fully referenced from start to finish. This means that even if you disagree with the author's judgements you can see where he obtained his evidence and follow it up for yourself. And his research is right up to date as the extensive bibliography demonstrates.
I found it readable and a useful twist on what is otherwise a well-known period of history. However, it's heavy going in places with all the names and details so it does need close attention. I've given it four stars but I can quite easily see I or someone else might have given it three. Looking at some of the criticisms I have read here it's obvious that this is a tricky subject these days, and seems to provoke responses from people with their own axes to grind that don't necessarily have anything to do with the book. For example, it would be quite easy to make out that the women were the only victims of the system, since almost all were executed, murdered or otherwise subjected to unpleasant ends. Actually, almost all the men involved also died degrading or humiliating deaths and sometimes on the orders of women. If there was one thing I learned from Domina it was that it was all about power and in different ways almost everyone was a victim.
November 13, 2021
What can I say about de la Bédoyère's Domina? I have read several critiques of it and heard all the naysayers, it's too short, over half the book are notes, the glossary, etc. but also read the positive reviews, and having these decided to read it for myself.
Now I should point out, I was at the outset looking for a book that would provide me with enough personal detail of the lives of the Roman women that I could write a book of poetry for them, and had my heart set on writing one solely for Claudia Octavia, however, the one book I found on her, a self-published poorly edited (they did not even credit the painting on the cover, which was a Renaissance artist's work, though unnoted on the inside or flyleaf) piece of historical fiction so ghastly I do not want to mention the author's name nor the title, suffice to say it was unreadable and I ended up discarding it in recycling (something I never do) rather than burden anyone else with the effort of trying to wade through it.
After this, I purchased, Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome and crossed my fingers I could use the material and that it would be well-written. It is both. To say this is merely okay, would be a disservice to its author who provides the reader with copious anecdotes on everyone from Fulvia to the glorious Agrippina the Elder. de la Bédoyère's comment on Agrippina the Elder elucidates further on her and is an eye into the Roman world of her time.
When describing Agrippina’s death (which occurred in 33) Tacitus was moderately acerbic about her. She was, he said, ‘impatient of equality and greedy for mastery.’ and as a result had let her masculine-style ambition take over the normal female frailties.’ In short, her only real crime was to be a woman in a world of men, run by men for the benefit of men. (Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome, pe 136)
Tacitus’ comments on Agrippina the Elder, and de la Bédoyère’s annotation make evident for the reader how though we are far removed from ancient Rome, we still have a very long way to go.
From there I found a delightful video with de la Bédoyère speaking about the book, without giving everything away, while still showing his great enthusiasm for the women and women's struggles which persist to this day. His heartfelt comments on Agrippina the Younger, and all the women (including the Severans) underscore his devotion to the subject matter, attentiveness to detail (he never shies away from noting that some things were pure propaganda, whilst still referring to details that often due to Roman’s love of rumors as a means for attaining power or damning others was widely used). For instance, when quoting historians such as Dio, Tacitus, and Suetonius’ spurious allegations of incest against Agrippina the Younger and Caligula, he is quick to note that these accusations were more than likely used to vilify rather than because there was any merit to them.
I found more than enough material for my book, and further, that due to the plethora therein, the bibliography which I found extremely useful, as well as the glossary and genealogical Family tree, I highly recommend Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome , to anyone, not just for those interested in ancient history but for anyone indeed who wants to read a great book. There is so much to delve into, and so many questions I find myself wishing I could ask the likes of Germanicus, Fulvia, Claudia Octavia, etc. Along with the burning question, had Germanicus and Agrippina lived, how different would Rome have been? An interesting thought don’t you think?
Now I should point out, I was at the outset looking for a book that would provide me with enough personal detail of the lives of the Roman women that I could write a book of poetry for them, and had my heart set on writing one solely for Claudia Octavia, however, the one book I found on her, a self-published poorly edited (they did not even credit the painting on the cover, which was a Renaissance artist's work, though unnoted on the inside or flyleaf) piece of historical fiction so ghastly I do not want to mention the author's name nor the title, suffice to say it was unreadable and I ended up discarding it in recycling (something I never do) rather than burden anyone else with the effort of trying to wade through it.
After this, I purchased, Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome and crossed my fingers I could use the material and that it would be well-written. It is both. To say this is merely okay, would be a disservice to its author who provides the reader with copious anecdotes on everyone from Fulvia to the glorious Agrippina the Elder. de la Bédoyère's comment on Agrippina the Elder elucidates further on her and is an eye into the Roman world of her time.
When describing Agrippina’s death (which occurred in 33) Tacitus was moderately acerbic about her. She was, he said, ‘impatient of equality and greedy for mastery.’ and as a result had let her masculine-style ambition take over the normal female frailties.’ In short, her only real crime was to be a woman in a world of men, run by men for the benefit of men. (Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome, pe 136)
Tacitus’ comments on Agrippina the Elder, and de la Bédoyère’s annotation make evident for the reader how though we are far removed from ancient Rome, we still have a very long way to go.
From there I found a delightful video with de la Bédoyère speaking about the book, without giving everything away, while still showing his great enthusiasm for the women and women's struggles which persist to this day. His heartfelt comments on Agrippina the Younger, and all the women (including the Severans) underscore his devotion to the subject matter, attentiveness to detail (he never shies away from noting that some things were pure propaganda, whilst still referring to details that often due to Roman’s love of rumors as a means for attaining power or damning others was widely used). For instance, when quoting historians such as Dio, Tacitus, and Suetonius’ spurious allegations of incest against Agrippina the Younger and Caligula, he is quick to note that these accusations were more than likely used to vilify rather than because there was any merit to them.
I found more than enough material for my book, and further, that due to the plethora therein, the bibliography which I found extremely useful, as well as the glossary and genealogical Family tree, I highly recommend Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome , to anyone, not just for those interested in ancient history but for anyone indeed who wants to read a great book. There is so much to delve into, and so many questions I find myself wishing I could ask the likes of Germanicus, Fulvia, Claudia Octavia, etc. Along with the burning question, had Germanicus and Agrippina lived, how different would Rome have been? An interesting thought don’t you think?
July 15, 2021
I was interested in reading "Domina" because I thought it would give me more of an insight into the women of the Roman empire and the author promises this as well.
Unfortunately, the writing didn't draw me in and actually bored me in several places, and the author still largely focuses on the men who made imperial Rome. The author repeats himself a lot and focuses a lot on the coins that were minted and who was depicted on them.
This might be interesting, but I think the book would have focused more on the women's lives and their achievements. The rather subjective tone of the book also didn't help matters.
Unfortunately, the writing didn't draw me in and actually bored me in several places, and the author still largely focuses on the men who made imperial Rome. The author repeats himself a lot and focuses a lot on the coins that were minted and who was depicted on them.
This might be interesting, but I think the book would have focused more on the women's lives and their achievements. The rather subjective tone of the book also didn't help matters.
May 1, 2019
Wow, talk about high school flashbacks... I don't know about you all, but my high school was full of Julia's, Sarah's, Emily's and Jessica's! Listening slash reading this book with all the Julia's, Livia's, and Agrippina's felt a lot like high school attendance!
Joking aside, I enjoyed the way these oft-vilified, largely forgotten women were depicted. Their motivations and desires were contextualized to their time without ignoring their humanity. Often in describing the motivations of historical figures, historians make one of two mistakes-- 1) they impose modern values on historical people and situations or 2) they avoid imposing today's values on these figures by ignoring their humanity. Guy de la Bédoyère walks the line of humanizing the women, emperors, soldiers, children, historians, and other participants without assigning modern motives or biases. A key example of this is even when one of these women called for equality between men and women (which only one did), she was not called a feminist. While she may have espoused values we would identify with feminism--the concept did not exist at the time, which means she was not a feminist. This might seem like semantics, but as an avid reader and student of women's history, it is an important distinction; without which, tracing the trajectory of women's empowerment becomes impossible.
While this book provides a detailed account of the lives of the women of the Juli0-
Claudian family, much less time is dedicated to the women of the Severan dynasty--which I would have appreciated. The beginning of the book set it up like these two families would be compared much more equally. However, in reality, the discussion of the Severans was limited to the last chapter.
My last comment is that this is not a book for people who have no familiarity with Roman history specifically knowledge of the late republic and the life Augustus. While the book provides a detailed analysis of the role that prominent women played during these eras, it mentions important events and people to Roman history without contextualizing them. Even a cursory knowledge of Roman history will help make the book more accessible.
Joking aside, I enjoyed the way these oft-vilified, largely forgotten women were depicted. Their motivations and desires were contextualized to their time without ignoring their humanity. Often in describing the motivations of historical figures, historians make one of two mistakes-- 1) they impose modern values on historical people and situations or 2) they avoid imposing today's values on these figures by ignoring their humanity. Guy de la Bédoyère walks the line of humanizing the women, emperors, soldiers, children, historians, and other participants without assigning modern motives or biases. A key example of this is even when one of these women called for equality between men and women (which only one did), she was not called a feminist. While she may have espoused values we would identify with feminism--the concept did not exist at the time, which means she was not a feminist. This might seem like semantics, but as an avid reader and student of women's history, it is an important distinction; without which, tracing the trajectory of women's empowerment becomes impossible.
While this book provides a detailed account of the lives of the women of the Juli0-
Claudian family, much less time is dedicated to the women of the Severan dynasty--which I would have appreciated. The beginning of the book set it up like these two families would be compared much more equally. However, in reality, the discussion of the Severans was limited to the last chapter.
My last comment is that this is not a book for people who have no familiarity with Roman history specifically knowledge of the late republic and the life Augustus. While the book provides a detailed analysis of the role that prominent women played during these eras, it mentions important events and people to Roman history without contextualizing them. Even a cursory knowledge of Roman history will help make the book more accessible.
June 1, 2024
A very interesting canter through the history of the Julio-Claudian women, and insightful in demonstrating how dependent on the female line was the dynasty. Despite having a good knowledge of the dynasty I hadn’t sat and appreciated that before.
A good read for sure. The reason I only give it three stars is that it seemed to lack a coherency - it seemed to want to make points or draw conclusions rather than simply being a linear biography but I wasn’t sure I got anything else out of it but a good biographical yarn. And there’s nothing wrong with that, so just enjoy it for what it is.
A good read for sure. The reason I only give it three stars is that it seemed to lack a coherency - it seemed to want to make points or draw conclusions rather than simply being a linear biography but I wasn’t sure I got anything else out of it but a good biographical yarn. And there’s nothing wrong with that, so just enjoy it for what it is.
December 11, 2019
Excellent break-down of the imperial women of Rome. Nicely provided with family trees and maps. A must for anyone who finds themselves frequently confused by all the name similarities.
November 6, 2020
It was... okay. The actual book ends at 60% and the rest is appendices, lists, charts, indexes, and way way too many pages of footnotes.
The epilogue jams in all the Severan women and a few later ones. It should have been either omitted or expanded upon.
The genealogical charts are really good -- you can't keep the Julio-Claudians straight without it.
The plates are also good and enlarge really well on Kindle. Photos of things I'd only heard about but never seen appeared. Mostly color.
I got it for 99c on a BookBub sale and feel it was worth it. I wouldn't pay full price though. It took me a month to read because I kept reading other stuff too (and stressing about the 2020 election!)
The epilogue jams in all the Severan women and a few later ones. It should have been either omitted or expanded upon.
The genealogical charts are really good -- you can't keep the Julio-Claudians straight without it.
The plates are also good and enlarge really well on Kindle. Photos of things I'd only heard about but never seen appeared. Mostly color.
I got it for 99c on a BookBub sale and feel it was worth it. I wouldn't pay full price though. It took me a month to read because I kept reading other stuff too (and stressing about the 2020 election!)
July 26, 2023
I felt like I was reading the gossip section of a newspaper. She hated her so she had her killed or exiled and he divorced her to marry the other girl and the former husband was forced to commit suicide. And enough about the coins. I didn’t know it was possible to write that many pages about such and such coins at such and such time and place that had this image with BOTH the empress and emperor!!!
If you enjoy game of thrones stories of backstabbing and petty politics then this is a book for you. I suggest first reading a more general history of the late republic first so you have some background.
If you enjoy game of thrones stories of backstabbing and petty politics then this is a book for you. I suggest first reading a more general history of the late republic first so you have some background.
November 25, 2024
I rate this 4.5 out of 5.
I listened to this book through Audible.
This book thoughtfully examines how women wielded power in imperial Rome. The author also does a fairly good job distinguishing each of these women from each other and the powerful men in their lives. It was an exceptional feat when many of these women had similar names, changed names, or were named for one another or a male family member (e.g., Livia became Julia Augusta, and her husband was Augustus).
This book begins by examining Julius Caesar's downfall and the rise of Octavian (the aggressor of Cleopatra and Marc Anthony) to the role of emperor. The women who are the primary focus of this period are Octavian's three wives: Fulvia (Marc Anthony's stepdaughter), Scribonia, and Livia. The author does an excellent job of detailing what is known of these women's backgrounds and how their marriages were politically advantageous to Octavian.
Interestingly Octavian only had one surviving child from these marriages, Julia the Elder from whom the mantle of Emporer descended. Octavian wished her to continue the male dynastic line by first marrying her cousin Marcus Claudius Marcellus who died within two years of marrying. With the death of Marcus Claudius, Julia the Elder and her female cousins, sought to gain political power through advantageous marriages all of which impacted the imperial succession. This was the most confusing part of the book to follow. Not due to the writing but because all of the main players at this time had very similar names and sometimes married the same people or people with similar names. I think that might be the biggest disadvantage of the audiobook because I could not refer to a family try at any point. It also didn't help that there was so much intermarriage within the noble houses of Rome. I mean Julia the Elder, daughter of Octavian and Scribonia, married Emperor Tiberius, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia (i.e., third wife of Octavian). So my best advice is to read this book with the family tree near.
My favourite part of the book was the section surrounding Emperor Nero. Not being well versed in Roman history all I knew of this time was the saying "Nero fiddled while Rome burned". Honestly, that is a relatively nice account of a narcissistic lunatic. As with all of the women discussed in this book, the lives of Nero's four wives: Claudia Octavia, Poppaea Sabina, Statilia Messalina, and Sporus were full of intrigue and heartbreak.
I'm not entirely sure how de la Bédoyère packed so much history into this book and made it so enthralling to read. His writing drew me into these women's lives and times and whenever possible used the first-hand accounts of their lives. I did appreciate how de la Bédoyère also provided context as many of the Roman sources are misogynistic, inflammatory, pieces of patriarchal propaganda pieces. His ability to use the sources and say what is and is not supported by all the known evidence was refreshing
I recommend this book if you want to learn more about Roman history, particularly history centred on the women of the period.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
I listened to this book through Audible.
This book thoughtfully examines how women wielded power in imperial Rome. The author also does a fairly good job distinguishing each of these women from each other and the powerful men in their lives. It was an exceptional feat when many of these women had similar names, changed names, or were named for one another or a male family member (e.g., Livia became Julia Augusta, and her husband was Augustus).
This book begins by examining Julius Caesar's downfall and the rise of Octavian (the aggressor of Cleopatra and Marc Anthony) to the role of emperor. The women who are the primary focus of this period are Octavian's three wives: Fulvia (Marc Anthony's stepdaughter), Scribonia, and Livia. The author does an excellent job of detailing what is known of these women's backgrounds and how their marriages were politically advantageous to Octavian.
Interestingly Octavian only had one surviving child from these marriages, Julia the Elder from whom the mantle of Emporer descended. Octavian wished her to continue the male dynastic line by first marrying her cousin Marcus Claudius Marcellus who died within two years of marrying. With the death of Marcus Claudius, Julia the Elder and her female cousins, sought to gain political power through advantageous marriages all of which impacted the imperial succession. This was the most confusing part of the book to follow. Not due to the writing but because all of the main players at this time had very similar names and sometimes married the same people or people with similar names. I think that might be the biggest disadvantage of the audiobook because I could not refer to a family try at any point. It also didn't help that there was so much intermarriage within the noble houses of Rome. I mean Julia the Elder, daughter of Octavian and Scribonia, married Emperor Tiberius, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia (i.e., third wife of Octavian). So my best advice is to read this book with the family tree near.
My favourite part of the book was the section surrounding Emperor Nero. Not being well versed in Roman history all I knew of this time was the saying "Nero fiddled while Rome burned". Honestly, that is a relatively nice account of a narcissistic lunatic. As with all of the women discussed in this book, the lives of Nero's four wives: Claudia Octavia, Poppaea Sabina, Statilia Messalina, and Sporus were full of intrigue and heartbreak.
I'm not entirely sure how de la Bédoyère packed so much history into this book and made it so enthralling to read. His writing drew me into these women's lives and times and whenever possible used the first-hand accounts of their lives. I did appreciate how de la Bédoyère also provided context as many of the Roman sources are misogynistic, inflammatory, pieces of patriarchal propaganda pieces. His ability to use the sources and say what is and is not supported by all the known evidence was refreshing
I recommend this book if you want to learn more about Roman history, particularly history centred on the women of the period.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
September 30, 2018
The period of the end of the Roman Republic and the beginnings of the empire has always held great fascination for those of us in later generations, especially with its larger-than-life characters, originally portrayed with great gusto (and more than a little bias) by Suetonius and others and in the twentieth century by Robert Graves in his classic I, Claudius and Claudius the God.
In his book Domina, Guy de la Bédoyère gives us a look at the real people behind the myths and gossip. He also shows how, as the male line failed, descent through the female line became crucial to keeping the dynasty alive, as well as the methods by which these women, with varying degrees of success, circumvented the legal bar on their holding power to exercise influence through their husbands and sons. In fact, sometimes this could be an advantage, since a system that doesn't allow for female power also has very few ways to control it.
The book begins with a brief overview of the Roman view of women and their place, including what was seen as a "good" woman (Lucretia, who killed herself after being raped, or Cornelia, the exemplary mother), as well as the “bad,” generally, as so often in later years, one who “usurped” the power of men or blatantly exercised power over them, notable examples being Marc Antony’s wife Fulvia and, of course, Cleopatra. De la Bédoyère then embarks on a comprehensive history of the women in the Julio-Claudian family (mainly descendants of Augustus, his sister Octavia and his wife Livia by her first husband, as well as Octavia and Livia themselves). Livia - almost certainly nothing like the Machiavellian schemer portrayed by Graves - was perhaps the most successful but was still cut loose by her son Tiberius at the end of her life. Agrippina the Elder (wife and later widow of Germanicus) and Claudius’ wife Messalina, completely different in their personalities and approaches, both failed - and paid for it with their lives - for widely varying reasons. Agrippina the Younger (mother of Nero), saw her son become emperor but in the end, lost her influence and was murdered by him. Many other women populate these pages, from Augustus’ tragic daughter Julia to others who are familiar to those of us who have read Graves’ work and still others who are more obscure but still played their part.
Finally, in an epilogue, de la Bédoyère spends time examining the second great flourishing of female power in the Severan dynasty, which includes Septimus Severus’ wife Julia Domna, her sister Julia Maesa and Julia Maesa's granddaughters, with a brief sketch of later empresses and their influence or (mostly) lack thereof.
I enjoyed this book very much; it was engrossing as well as careful history and, despite my prior knowledge, I don’t believe it would be excessively confusing even to those who are less familiar with the history, although some confusion is perhaps inevitable, with multiple Julias, Claudias, Octavias and Agrippinas to keep track of. I believe it would be a rewarding read for anyone looking to learn more about this period in particular in general or specifically about the part women played.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In his book Domina, Guy de la Bédoyère gives us a look at the real people behind the myths and gossip. He also shows how, as the male line failed, descent through the female line became crucial to keeping the dynasty alive, as well as the methods by which these women, with varying degrees of success, circumvented the legal bar on their holding power to exercise influence through their husbands and sons. In fact, sometimes this could be an advantage, since a system that doesn't allow for female power also has very few ways to control it.
The book begins with a brief overview of the Roman view of women and their place, including what was seen as a "good" woman (Lucretia, who killed herself after being raped, or Cornelia, the exemplary mother), as well as the “bad,” generally, as so often in later years, one who “usurped” the power of men or blatantly exercised power over them, notable examples being Marc Antony’s wife Fulvia and, of course, Cleopatra. De la Bédoyère then embarks on a comprehensive history of the women in the Julio-Claudian family (mainly descendants of Augustus, his sister Octavia and his wife Livia by her first husband, as well as Octavia and Livia themselves). Livia - almost certainly nothing like the Machiavellian schemer portrayed by Graves - was perhaps the most successful but was still cut loose by her son Tiberius at the end of her life. Agrippina the Elder (wife and later widow of Germanicus) and Claudius’ wife Messalina, completely different in their personalities and approaches, both failed - and paid for it with their lives - for widely varying reasons. Agrippina the Younger (mother of Nero), saw her son become emperor but in the end, lost her influence and was murdered by him. Many other women populate these pages, from Augustus’ tragic daughter Julia to others who are familiar to those of us who have read Graves’ work and still others who are more obscure but still played their part.
Finally, in an epilogue, de la Bédoyère spends time examining the second great flourishing of female power in the Severan dynasty, which includes Septimus Severus’ wife Julia Domna, her sister Julia Maesa and Julia Maesa's granddaughters, with a brief sketch of later empresses and their influence or (mostly) lack thereof.
I enjoyed this book very much; it was engrossing as well as careful history and, despite my prior knowledge, I don’t believe it would be excessively confusing even to those who are less familiar with the history, although some confusion is perhaps inevitable, with multiple Julias, Claudias, Octavias and Agrippinas to keep track of. I believe it would be a rewarding read for anyone looking to learn more about this period in particular in general or specifically about the part women played.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
November 15, 2024
Domina is a fascinating account of the role of the Julian-Claudian women in maintaining the regime established by Augustus Caesar. Although the emperors are more famous and notorious, a look at the family trees shows ony too clearly that being a descendent of Augustus's wife Livia, his daughter Julia and/or his sister Octavia was necessary for claiming the prize. Given the marriages within the family, being descended from the three women was not unusual.
De la Bedoyere begins his study with an explanation of the Roman concept of the virtuous woman, wife, and mother
which is epitomized by Livia, Octavia, Agrippina the Elder, and Antonia Minor. In direct contrast are the two Julias, daughter and grand daughter of Augustus, and Messalina. The defeated Cleopatra was used by the Romans as ths prime example of what virtuous women should not be......after all she was the one who made Antony less than a real Roman man (Antony evidently not being held responsible for his own decisions and actions!)
The following chapters focus primarily on Livia, the two sad Julias, Agrippina the elder, the infamous Messalina and Agrippina the Younger (the mother and victim of Nero). De la Bedoyere explains how the emperors themselves dealt with their female relations, from deifying them to having them killed, not exactly happy families. In particular it is difficult to believe that Messalina could have gotten away with all that she did without Claudius having some inkling of what was going on. Of course, he must rely on historians such as Tacitus, Suetonius and Dio who had their own biases and axes to grind. Tacitus, for example, detested Livia and fed the image of her as getting rid of all males who stood in the way of her son Tiberius becoming emperor. The author also explains the importance of Roman coins and why who was depicted on the coins can tell us much about the status of the women.
It all makes for fascinating reading, a Roman and historical Game of Thrones. After finishing reading Domina, I reread the classic I, Claudius by Robert Graves and watched again the old series based on the historical novel. I think it is time for a remake. This has everything, intrigue, sex, overweening ambition, hypocrisy, perfidy, and murder. And people think history is boring!
De la Bedoyere begins his study with an explanation of the Roman concept of the virtuous woman, wife, and mother
which is epitomized by Livia, Octavia, Agrippina the Elder, and Antonia Minor. In direct contrast are the two Julias, daughter and grand daughter of Augustus, and Messalina. The defeated Cleopatra was used by the Romans as ths prime example of what virtuous women should not be......after all she was the one who made Antony less than a real Roman man (Antony evidently not being held responsible for his own decisions and actions!)
The following chapters focus primarily on Livia, the two sad Julias, Agrippina the elder, the infamous Messalina and Agrippina the Younger (the mother and victim of Nero). De la Bedoyere explains how the emperors themselves dealt with their female relations, from deifying them to having them killed, not exactly happy families. In particular it is difficult to believe that Messalina could have gotten away with all that she did without Claudius having some inkling of what was going on. Of course, he must rely on historians such as Tacitus, Suetonius and Dio who had their own biases and axes to grind. Tacitus, for example, detested Livia and fed the image of her as getting rid of all males who stood in the way of her son Tiberius becoming emperor. The author also explains the importance of Roman coins and why who was depicted on the coins can tell us much about the status of the women.
It all makes for fascinating reading, a Roman and historical Game of Thrones. After finishing reading Domina, I reread the classic I, Claudius by Robert Graves and watched again the old series based on the historical novel. I think it is time for a remake. This has everything, intrigue, sex, overweening ambition, hypocrisy, perfidy, and murder. And people think history is boring!
January 25, 2024
"Power in the Roman world was determined, controlled, and defined by men. Women were supposed to be respectful, compliant, and honorable, and their chastity unimpeachable. A woman who stepped out of her sphere to challenge these submissive characteristics and virtues risked condemnation not only by her contemporaries but also by posterity. Few women in this book escaped what seems to have been almost a conspiracy of vilification."
Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome is a comprehensive overview of several generations of important Julio-Claudian women including Livia, Julia the Elder, Agripinna the Elder, Messalina, and Agripinna the Younger. It is a very readable and often riveting work of non-fiction. I don't have much background information on Ancient Roman history or the Roman Empire and I still found the narrative relatively easy to follow. The information was organized in a clear way and the addition of maps, family trees, glossary of terms, and all the other resources were really valuable. I referred back to the family trees multiple times as I was reading.
Ancient Rome was a man's world yet the entire Julio-Claudian dynasty can be traced back through three women: Augustus' daughter, Julia the Elder, his wife, Livia, or his sister, Octavia. There literally would not have been a Julio-Claudian empire without them. These were women who were expected to be dutiful wives and mothers and had no formal ways to obtain power, but that didn't stop them from finding ways to influence the men in their lives, some more successfully than others. I was so fascinated by these stories. None of the Julio-Claudian emperors were succeeded by a biological son. There was so much drama, love affairs, political intrigue, murder or forced suicides. There were times I forgot I was reading a non-fiction history book and was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next! It was like an ancient world soap opera!
I learned a lot from this book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome is a comprehensive overview of several generations of important Julio-Claudian women including Livia, Julia the Elder, Agripinna the Elder, Messalina, and Agripinna the Younger. It is a very readable and often riveting work of non-fiction. I don't have much background information on Ancient Roman history or the Roman Empire and I still found the narrative relatively easy to follow. The information was organized in a clear way and the addition of maps, family trees, glossary of terms, and all the other resources were really valuable. I referred back to the family trees multiple times as I was reading.
Ancient Rome was a man's world yet the entire Julio-Claudian dynasty can be traced back through three women: Augustus' daughter, Julia the Elder, his wife, Livia, or his sister, Octavia. There literally would not have been a Julio-Claudian empire without them. These were women who were expected to be dutiful wives and mothers and had no formal ways to obtain power, but that didn't stop them from finding ways to influence the men in their lives, some more successfully than others. I was so fascinated by these stories. None of the Julio-Claudian emperors were succeeded by a biological son. There was so much drama, love affairs, political intrigue, murder or forced suicides. There were times I forgot I was reading a non-fiction history book and was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next! It was like an ancient world soap opera!
I learned a lot from this book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
November 26, 2022
This book covers primarily the Julio-Claudian period of the Roman Empire and tries to view the ruling families through the lens of the powerful female members of these families. It charts the increasing prominence of Roman women in the way Roman rulers portrayed themselves as well as the backlashes powerful women experienced.
The narrative is wonderfully well researched and academically based while also being highly readable. The stories are necessarily still told from the perspective of the male members of these ruling families due to the dearth female-centric information, particularly earlier in this period.
My overarching response was to marvel at how messed up and dysfunctional the government appeared and to wonder how Rome continued to be a functioning empire through this time. A closely following secondary thought is to recognize how narrowly republics seem to hold onto the imagination and maintain themselves in the face of the underlying human desire for a single strong ruler to just tell us what to do. The parallels between "the mob's" delight in Nero's depravity sticking it to the stuffy, corrupt senators and the current political climate of wanting to shake up Washington was sobering. And neither of these reactions have much to do with the role of women. The women either appeared to grasp for power again in a dysfunctional way, but with perhaps the understandable rationale of having no legitimate pathway to power, or to be supplementing the rule of a weak and even less competent male member of the family. All of this left me wondering why Western Europe continues to idolize the Roman Empire.
The narrative is wonderfully well researched and academically based while also being highly readable. The stories are necessarily still told from the perspective of the male members of these ruling families due to the dearth female-centric information, particularly earlier in this period.
My overarching response was to marvel at how messed up and dysfunctional the government appeared and to wonder how Rome continued to be a functioning empire through this time. A closely following secondary thought is to recognize how narrowly republics seem to hold onto the imagination and maintain themselves in the face of the underlying human desire for a single strong ruler to just tell us what to do. The parallels between "the mob's" delight in Nero's depravity sticking it to the stuffy, corrupt senators and the current political climate of wanting to shake up Washington was sobering. And neither of these reactions have much to do with the role of women. The women either appeared to grasp for power again in a dysfunctional way, but with perhaps the understandable rationale of having no legitimate pathway to power, or to be supplementing the rule of a weak and even less competent male member of the family. All of this left me wondering why Western Europe continues to idolize the Roman Empire.
August 18, 2018
Domina: the women who made imperial Rome is an interesting account of the few women who were able, for better or worse, to gain some notion of power during the age of imperial Rome. De la Bedoyere manages, despite not only the lack of evidence, but also the extreme bias held against women (and especially these women) from Roman writers, to construct humanizing portraits. I found myself caught up in their stories, and there was the occasional bit of humour (Julia Maesa was, if her coin portraits are anything to go by, a humourless woman with all the charm of an aging iceberg.).
I did, however, have a problem with the first chapter. I found it very disjointed and the weakest part of the book (especially for those of us who need to bone up on our Roman history!). That being said, it's a good layman's read and a jumping off point for further reading!
My version (an arc ebook copy) unfortunately did not include the plates or family trees. That being said, the author did include a dramatis personae of all the women he talked about, with brief genealogical (such as is known) details, as well as a detailed timeline, glossary, notes, bibliography, and 3 (!) indices (one for the women discussed, a second for the emporers mentioned, and finally a general index).
I received my copy through Netgalley.
I did, however, have a problem with the first chapter. I found it very disjointed and the weakest part of the book (especially for those of us who need to bone up on our Roman history!). That being said, it's a good layman's read and a jumping off point for further reading!
My version (an arc ebook copy) unfortunately did not include the plates or family trees. That being said, the author did include a dramatis personae of all the women he talked about, with brief genealogical (such as is known) details, as well as a detailed timeline, glossary, notes, bibliography, and 3 (!) indices (one for the women discussed, a second for the emporers mentioned, and finally a general index).
Agrippina the Elder's 'impatience for equality' was never fulfilled. She waits still.
I received my copy through Netgalley.
February 25, 2025
Writing a history of women and power in Roman history is tricky business. Contemporary accounts – and subsequent versions based on now-lost documents – are almost universally sparse and antagonistic when dealing with anyone other than men of senatorial rank. Nonetheless, Guy de la Bedoyere does a competent job of gleaning what may be considered accurate and recognizing problems with the rest of the record. Though the book’s title implies an ambitious ambit, most of the focus is on the Julio-Claudians (with a relatively brief epilogue devoted mostly to the Severans). The author makes some excellent points about the importance of matrilineal lines of descent and the tricky business of women exercising control of a system that denied them all official forms of authority. My only gripe is that this could have been a considerably shorter work. Much of the text is repetitive, and frequent numismatic digressions vary between historically significant and irrelevantly trivial. Overall, however, this is a worthwhile read.
February 26, 2024
Women are often seen as "the power behind the throne" in a lot of history texts but rarely does writing look at that power as effectively Guy de la Bédoyère does here for the women of the Julio-Claudian Roman emperors. Deftly sifting through the many sexist fictions attached to women such as Livia and both Agrippinas, Bédoyère does a great job of...perhaps not humanizing in the way that word is understood nowadays but bringing to life the stories of the mothers, sisters, nieces, wives, etc. that formed the backbone of the dynasty. People reading this searching for Cersei Lannister inspirations might be disappointed (well, except for Messalina). Bédoyère does address the lurid accounts of some of these women but only through historical record and since the historical record is heavily skewed against them, he breaks down their options and how they realistically might have come to the decisions they made. An excellent piece of historical writing.
January 17, 2021
Es un libro que nos mete de lleno en las vidas de las emperatrices y las mujeres de la esfera imperial, desde el comienzo del Principado, hasta el final de la dinastía julio-claudia, pasando rápidamente sobre la antonina, severa y emperatrices del Imperio Romano de Oriente.
Quizás se centra demasiado en la dinastía julio-claudia, pero asienta las bases para que comprendamos por nosotros mismos cuáles son los procesos que más tarde se repetirían en la dinastía severa, a la que se dedica la mayor parte del epílogo.
En general es un libro que recopila las diferentes fuentes clásicas (Suetonio, Dion Casio, etc.), y las investigaciones actuales, y nos ofrece una perspectiva conjunta de las historias de estas mujeres, que muchas veces se comenta por encima y se pierden en los textos clásicos.
Para entrar en la dinámica de principios del Principado o Imperio, es muy recomendable.
Quizás se centra demasiado en la dinastía julio-claudia, pero asienta las bases para que comprendamos por nosotros mismos cuáles son los procesos que más tarde se repetirían en la dinastía severa, a la que se dedica la mayor parte del epílogo.
En general es un libro que recopila las diferentes fuentes clásicas (Suetonio, Dion Casio, etc.), y las investigaciones actuales, y nos ofrece una perspectiva conjunta de las historias de estas mujeres, que muchas veces se comenta por encima y se pierden en los textos clásicos.
Para entrar en la dinámica de principios del Principado o Imperio, es muy recomendable.
February 9, 2024
An honest and in depth depiction of the struggles for “power in a mans world” of the women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, without idealizing or sugarcoating their brutality, inmense priviledge and ruthlessnes but still showing the reader their brilliance. Not an introductory read, as it demands an intermediate level of background knowledge, and not suitable for someone just looking for a light read on rome as it does go into detail, leaves the central topic fir long stretches and can be dense at times, but the history buff will get plenty of exciting new information, many a titillating tale and a look at the background goings or Imperial politics. As a bit of a specialist in the Late Republic-Julio Claudian period, I also very much enjoyed the sneak peak into the Severan wome and will be reading more on them soon!
April 20, 2020
A close look at the women who helped create imperial Rome, as the male lineages failed (e.g. the first emperor, Augustus, had no sons or surviving direct male heirs, and it was through his wife, Livia, the first empress of Rome, that his stepson, Tiberius, came to power as the second emperor). Thus, the story focuses mainly on the women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, though the women of the later Severan dynasty also receive attention as following in the footsteps of the Julio-Claudians to some extent). A magisterial work on the topic - truly impressive - and ends with the note that "Agrippina the Elder's 'impatience for equality' was never realized. She waits still."
July 30, 2021
Not a particularly enjoyable read.... bit too dry. However, the author adds to our knowledge of the lives of imperial women and assesses their role given that their influence relied on the status of their men.
The power and agency of these women depended on the role of their partners. Livia appears to be the most influential although the evidence is sparse and difficult to disentangle from the male bias of Roman historians and storytellers. The book added to my knowledge of Agrippina The Younger and the three Severan Julias who all went beyond the traditional role allocated to women and not usually to the womens` benefit as they tended to meet grizzly ends.
The power and agency of these women depended on the role of their partners. Livia appears to be the most influential although the evidence is sparse and difficult to disentangle from the male bias of Roman historians and storytellers. The book added to my knowledge of Agrippina The Younger and the three Severan Julias who all went beyond the traditional role allocated to women and not usually to the womens` benefit as they tended to meet grizzly ends.
March 19, 2025
I love those Julio-Claudian ladies. They were far less likely than the Julio-Claudian men to turn out sadistic or depraved. (Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero in *one bloodline* is a terrible track record.)
This treatment is uneven, however. Pretty basic, pretty repetitive. At least with the Julio-Claudians, the author is willing to read against the grain and point out the biases and limitations of our sources (particularly Tacitus). However, in the coda on the Severan women, he just presents the standard unflattering portrayal, without diving into the limitations of that historiography.
Roman women drinking game: Take a shot anytime someone named Julia pops up.
This treatment is uneven, however. Pretty basic, pretty repetitive. At least with the Julio-Claudians, the author is willing to read against the grain and point out the biases and limitations of our sources (particularly Tacitus). However, in the coda on the Severan women, he just presents the standard unflattering portrayal, without diving into the limitations of that historiography.
Roman women drinking game: Take a shot anytime someone named Julia pops up.
July 28, 2020
Libro muy exhaustivo y académico, que prioriza las fuentes y la documentación por encima de un estilo narrativo personal. No es árido, pero tampoco da tregua al lector.
La perspectiva que adopta, repasando varias décadas de la Historia desde la perspectiva del linaje materno, es muy interesante. Con todo, justo este foco hace necesario tener algo de conocimiento previo del periodo que va de César a Nerón (con un rápido epílogo sobre la dinastía de los severos).
La perspectiva que adopta, repasando varias décadas de la Historia desde la perspectiva del linaje materno, es muy interesante. Con todo, justo este foco hace necesario tener algo de conocimiento previo del periodo que va de César a Nerón (con un rápido epílogo sobre la dinastía de los severos).
May 27, 2023
Solid
A whirlwind overview of the Roman empresses and their complicated relationship to male power. Guy de la Bedoyere engages with the political motives of the historians who shaped the narratives of female power in Rome. The paucity of information about many of these women is the most frustrating part of the story, but Guy does well filling in the blank spots with realistic extrapolations of the fragmentary evidence.
A whirlwind overview of the Roman empresses and their complicated relationship to male power. Guy de la Bedoyere engages with the political motives of the historians who shaped the narratives of female power in Rome. The paucity of information about many of these women is the most frustrating part of the story, but Guy does well filling in the blank spots with realistic extrapolations of the fragmentary evidence.
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