Domina

The Women Who Made Imperial Rome

De: Guy de la Bédoyère

Narrado por: Julian Elfer

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 Bedoyere, 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 Bedoyere 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.

©2018 Guy de la Bédoyère (P)2018 Tantor

Great read

History can be dry, at least for me. I found this enjoyable and very interesting. Highly recommend if you are curious about Roman history.

Excellently read with an interesting thesis

Written to easily be followed by the average reader, its accessibility and topic are engaging, and the narration echoes this. Some parts seem a bit bogged down or overly reliant on coinage.

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overall good but the voice does get annoying after a bit. Interesting view into Roman politics from a female perspective

Just Brilliant!

Very well researched and brilliantly written! But as always, I would have liked it even better if Guy de la Bédoyère had read it himself in his own imitable and soft-spoken way.

Detailed and fascinating read

I would rate this 4.5 overall.

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

Fills a Large Gap in Roman History!

This book was an excellent read and wonderfully narrated! I would recommend it to anyone interested in First Century to Third Century Roman history. But most of all, to any readers interested in the very strong part Roman women played as movers and "kingmakers" during that age.

History has two type of women

The author gives a balanced accounted of the women from Livy to Julia Mamaea. They aren’t idealized or demonized but rather the author picks out an even account of their actions from the writings of Roman historians who demonized them. These women had very few avenues open for them so they operated and realized their ambitions by creating avenues.

Very interesting.

I really enjoyed this book. We read, watch and hear so much about the men of Ancient Rome. It’s refreshing to read about the worn and the influences they had in the history of Rome, be it good, bad or indifferent. Great read. Strongly recommend.