9780415057776 / 0415057779

The study of the agenda of women in the societies of antiquity has assumed a fresh significance in recent years. This book delineates not only the influential and manipulative role of Roman women in the business of government, law and public affairs in general, but also the emergence of women's political and liberationist movements.
Professor Bauman's investigation covers the period from c.350 BC to AD 68, and thus embraces the Middle and Late Republic and the Early Principate. It is demonstrated that the story of Roman women over that period is one of cohesion and continuity, of the steady expansion of women's roles in public affairs. That paced expansion, and the means by which it was achieved, such as the acquisition and use of legal knowledge and the influence of women's movements, is the central theme of this book. Bauman's treatment is principally chronological, stressing sequential development, climaxing with the Great Women of the Emperor's House.
Women and Politics in Ancient Rome breaks new ground in the study of the political involvement of women in the classical age. The book will be of interest to historians, lawyers, classicists and researchers in women's studies.