A Rome of One's Own
The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire
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"Clever, bold, and refreshingly feminist; readers will be engaged and entertained to the very end." (Booklist)
This wildly entertaining new history of Rome uses the lives of 21 women to upend our understanding of the ancient world, from the acclaimed author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
This is a history of women who caused outrage, led armies in rebellion, wrote poetry; who lived independently or under the thumb of emperors. 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.
The history of Rome has long been narrow and one-sided, essentially a history of "the Doing of Important Things." 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 become when women get out of control, but history is more than that.
Emma Southon's A Rome of One's Own is the best kind of correction. This is a retelling of the history of Rome with all the things Roman history writers have relegated to the background, or designated as domestic, feminine, or worthless.
About this Author
Dr. Emma Southon holds a PhD in ancient history from the University of Birmingham. The author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Marriage, Sex and Death: The Family and the Fall of Rome; and Agrippina, she works as a bookseller at Waterstones Belfast.
Reviews
"[An] expert and wittily conversational narrative . . . Skillfully parsing sometimes limited and biased sources, Southon depicts her subjects as complex human beings . . . Southon's crisp characterizations, snappy assessments of existing histories, and breezy narrative style will enchant fans of ancient history and women's history. It's a delight."
"Clever, bold, and refreshingly feminist; readers will be engaged and entertained to the very end. This book deserves a home on library shelves to balance patriarchal nonfiction collections. More histories like this are needed."
"A Rome of One's Own is a whip-smart and revelatory read. Emma Southon brings us 'the story of Rome as told through women'--women like a priestess, a businesswoman, and a poet; women who were queens, rebels, scapegoats, and survivors. This is the history you didn't know you needed from a writer who should be on everyone's radar."
"Southon gives a fresh sense of Roman civilization... She presents ordinary, 'small' lives as extraordinary... This is not just a book about the lives of historical women, but one about the history of womanhood... delightful... Southon's book is a testament to those who were determined not to be left voiceless."
"An irreverent ... lively, alternative history."
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