Servilia and her Family

by Susan Treggiari

Servilia is often cited as one of the most influential women of the late Roman Republic. Though she was a high-born patrician, her grandfather died disgraced and her controversial father was killed before he could stand for the consulship; she herself married twice, but both husbands were mediocre. Nevertheless, her position in the ruling class still afforded her significant social and political power, and it is likely that she masterminded the distinguished marriages of her one son, Brutus, and her three daughters. During her second marriage she began an affair with Iulius Caesar, which probably lasted for the rest of his life and is further indicative of the force of her charm and her exceptional intelligence.

The patchiness of the sources means that a full biography is impossible, though in suggesting connections between the available evidence and the speculative possibilities open to women of Servilia's status this volume aims to offer an insightful reconstruction of her life and position both as a member of the senatorial nobility and within her extended and nuclear family. The best attested period of Servilia's life, for which the chief source is Cicero's letters, follows the murder of Caesar by her son and her son-in-law, Cassius, who were leaders among the crowd of conspirators in the Senate House on the Ides of March in 44 BC. We find her energetically working to protect the assassins' interests, also defending her grandchildren by the Caesarian Lepidus when he was declared a public enemy and his property threatened with confiscation. Exploring the role she played during these turbulent years of the late Republic reveals much about the ways in which Romans of both sexes exerted
influence and sought to control outcomes, as well as about the place of women in high society, allowing us to conclude that Servilia wielded her social and political power effectively, though with discretion and within conventional limits.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

404 pages, Hardcover

Published March 17, 2019

Reviews

[Triona · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography of one of the Grande Dames of the Late Republic. Treggiari carefully maintains the delicate balance between extrapolation and certainty that is so crucial for Roman historians, especially when writing the biography of a woman

[alina]

susan treggiari and i are of the same people... i too would write a 400 page monograph on an obscure woman in history... truly, i think servilia caepeonis is fascinating if only because of the insight she gives for aristocratic women's roles in the late roman republic, and she is doubly fascinating for what we can speculate about her influence and lived experience navigating the incredibly complex politics that swept up her family at that time. this is also the only work of its kind that i know of on servilia, and treggiari does a really good job researching servilia. the book is set up as a very good reference that doesn't need to necessarily be read the whole way through, i've been hopping around and it's quite alright

[Zoë Routh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive look at the life and times of Servilia, best known as Caesar’s lover and Brutus’s mother. Exceptionally well-researched, including a review of fiction books that feature Servilia. A good reference for my forthcoming series on the later Republic/ early Roman Empire.