Roman Women

This book examines the daily lives of Roman women.

Eve D'Ambra (Author)

9780521818391, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 December 2006

238 pages, 42 b/w illus. 57 colour illus.
23.4 x 15.9 x 1.8 cm, 0.59 kg

'D'Ambra has succeeded in writing an accomplished guidebook full of interesting details and concrete examples that make aspects of a Roman woman's life easily understandable. The book is written in clear language, which makes it also accessible to readers not familiar with the use of academic jargon.' Arctos

This book examines the daily lives of Roman women by focusing on the mundane and less celebrated aspects of daily life - family and household, work and leisure, worship and social obligations - of women of different social ranks. Using a variety of sources, including literary texts, letters, inscriptions, coins, tableware, furniture, and the fine arts, from the late Republic to the high Imperial period, Eve D'Ambra shows how these sources serve as objects of social analysis, rather than simply as documents that recreate how life was lived. She also demonstrates how texts and material objects take part in shaping realities and what they can tell us about the texture of lives and social attitudes, if not emotions of women in Roman antiquity.

1. Gender and status
2. Marriage and family
3. Women's work
4. Public life
Glossary
Roman authors
Selected bibliography.

Subject Areas: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]