Roman Women

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.

• Emphasizes image and ancient textual sources, even when they disagree • Makes the material accessible without oversimplifying or losing complexity • Gives a sense of the texture of lives with discussion of unusual artifacts, such as girls’ dolls or women’s cosmetics

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

\'While the book is intended to serve as an introduction, it provides detailed and concise information with avenues for more in-depth studies and will make an excellent textbook for any college course on women in Rome.\'

– Bryn Mawr Classical Review