Women of Ancient Rome

by Don Nardo

Thousands of books and articles have detailed the lives and deeds of ancient Roman men; but few have explored the lives of Roman women and the important contributions they made to Rome's success. This volume by a noted historian examines the social status, household duties, childbirth methods, occupations, religious roles and practices, struggles for rights, influences on politics, and other aspects of Roman women's lives.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Don Nardo (born February 22, 1947) is an American historian, composer, and writer. With close to four hundred and fifty published books, he is one of the most prolific authors in the United States, and one of the country's foremost writers of historical works for children and teens.

Reviews

[LeAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good basic summary of the topic for serious teen readers. Unlike a lot of books for pre-teens and teens, the book treats readers as mature and doesn't offer up any cutesy, gimmicky illustrations or glib, slang-filled text. Don Nardo's books are a good bridge between elementary and high-school level books.

The main issue with the book is its layout. Many sections are continued onto later pages with only a change in type size and it was quite easy to lose my place in the text. My daughter also found the layout confusing.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really appreciated how this book consistently pointed out the lack of information on women of the lower classes, and also how the author repeatedly showed that even the most privileged women still held much less power and influence than their male counterparts. Often, ancient writers are allowed to speak for themselves about their lives and those of the women they knew, and the author never oversimplifies his words or concepts as a concession to his audience.

The main complaint I have is the layout. There are inserts into the main chapter consisting of small slice-of-life anecdotes, but in no way are they divided from the main text, and even the font and size of lettering are identical to the body of the chapter. It's very confusing to read and more than once I wondered if I had skipped pages only to find it was yet another unmarked sidebar. The other reason this gets three instead of four stars is that I felt the narrative, while in-depth and sympathetic to its subjects, was at times academic to the point of being almost dull, which I think would probably be as off-putting to its intended audience as it was to me.

[Corinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through look at Roman women. Last chapter covers the effects of Christianity on women in Rome. Written like an encyclopedia article - more for research than enjoyment although there is lots of good information in it.