![]() ![]() Meet Servilia, Caesar's lover Sulpicia, the teenage poet Amazonia, the sword-swinging gladiator and Cloelia, the girl who escaped captivity by swimming the Tiber. They could wield massive power and influence, yet are often overlooked. ![]() Roman women were the most liberated in the ancient world. ![]() Augustine, the church patriarch, and Constantine, Rome's first "Christian" emperor, rub shoulders with Julian the Apostate and Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, leader of the pagans. A centurion and a plasterer's wife share pages with the orator Cicero and the scholar Pliny the Elder, while a vestal virgin shares a chapter with Antinous, the boy-lover of Hadrian. This book spans the great chronological and geographical sweep of the Roman age and brings the reader face to face with those who helped create the empire, from consuls and commanders to ordinary soldiers, voters, and taxpayers.Īn extraordinary range of viewpoints is explored in these biographies. One hundred biographies reveal the mightiest civilization of the ancient world through the lives of its citizens.Īt its peak Rome's empire stretched across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, yet it started as a primitive encampment above a riverside marsh. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |