A Rome of One's Own

The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire

By: Emma Southon

Narrated by: Danielle Cohen

From the acclaimed author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, a wildly entertaining new history of Rome that uses the lives of twenty-one extraordinary women to upend our understanding of the ancient world

The history of Rome has long been narrow and one-sided, essentially a history of “the Doing of Important Things.” It is a history of winning battles, passing laws, and “Having Important Opinions in Public.” And as far as Roman historians have been concerned, women don’t make that history. From Romulus through “the political stab-fest of the late Republic,” and then on to all the emperors, Roman historians may deign to give you a wife or a mother to show how bad things get when women get out of control, but history is more than that.

Emma Southon’s A Rome of One’s Own will correct that. This is a retelling of the history of Rome with the Important Things, but also all the things Roman history writers relegate to the background—or designate as domestic, feminine, or worthless. This is a history of individuals, twenty-one women who span the length of its territory and its centuries, who caused outrage, led armies in rebellion, wrote poetry, lived independently or under the thumb of emperors. A social and cultural history told with humor and verve as well as a deep scholarly background, A Rome of One’s Own highlights women overlooked and misunderstood, and through them offers a fascinating and groundbreaking chronicle of the ancient world.

©2023 Emma Southon (P)2024 Blackstone Publishing

Another Wonderful Work

I've listened to both "A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and "Agrippina" by Emma Southon, and pre-ordered this title. The author manages to explain things in a way that's incredibly engaging and entertaining without compromising the actual history. While both the narrators for her previous books were good, I think this one, Danielle Cohen, is perfect for the very funny (and British) style the writer has.

This is a really great book. It's great history and great fun.

Wonderful!!!

It was filled with interesting stories and broader history I loved it start to finish.

Ok

When I decided to read this book, it sounded interesting to learn about the women of Rome, but it kind of got boring. There were some funny things in this book and it didn’t read like a history book, but it was a little difficult to get through. I lost interest in it about halfway through, but I still managed to finish it anyway.

Rome (Emma’s Version)

Absolutely obsessed with this author and all of her work. Such interesting and varied stories about Roman life through the ages of its existence… Emma Southon, you never miss!!!

Reminded me I love to learn and read histories

the reader did a great job and the story itself is a fun portrayal of history! I appreciated the author stating what is fact and what is their opinion, I loved what she included and gave myself a new view on Roman history. plus some things I hope to search deeper into!