A Rome of One's Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire
Emma Southon
From the acclaimed author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum comes a wildly entertaining new history of Rome that uses the lives of 21 extraordinary women to upend our understanding 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 relegate to the background, or designate as domestic, feminine, or worthless. 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.
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A Rome of One's Own is Emma Southon's exploration of the roles of women in ancient Rome and brings attention to some of the names that have been erased by historians ancient to modern. Southon discusses some of the more famous figures like Agrippina and Livia who were at the top of Roman society but also merchants, midwives and other less elite folk.
This book really cemented Southon as one of my favorite historians. I picked it up right after reading [b:A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome|54776211|A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Murder in Ancient Rome|Emma Southon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600521428l/54776211._SX50_.jpg|76202161] which I enjoyed but felt more like a fun true crime/history mashup than something that would stick with me long-term. A Rome of One's Own is less overtly funny (though I still enjoyed the snarky commentary) and is more introspective. As someone who studied ancient Rome in college, it was really refreshing and valuable to see the importance and range of these Roman women and especially that Southon didn't just stick to the elite families that always get discussed.
If you're at all interested in Roman history and frustrated at the lack of female perspectives, highly recommend picking this up. Southon made it accessible but also emotionally impactful and I loved it from start to finish.
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