Review
'..".this book makes valuable contribution to the furtherance of our knowledge of Romes Julio-Claudian women.'
Tonya M. Lambert, "Canadian Journal of History, 2003.
From reviews of the hardcover edition:
'"This excellent book represents a general treatment of the subject and will be warmly welcomed by both classical scholars and art historians alike...Wood brings a special quality to the task, combining her keen scholarship with a recognition of the need to spell out carefully her methodology.'
Anthony A. Barrett, cu University of British Columbia.
Product Description
This volume traces the emergence and development of the public female portrait, from Octavia, the first Roman woman to be represented in propria persona on coinage, to the formidable and ambitious Agrippina the Younger, whose assassination demonstrated to later women the limits of official power they could demand. The text offers an account of how, from the end of the Roman Republic to the death of the last Julio-Claudian emperor, portraits of women - on coins, public monuments, and private luxury objects - became an increasingly familiar sight throughout the empire. These women usually represented the distinguished bloodlines of the head of state. The text considers how these objects also communicated social messages about the appropriate roles, behaviour and self-presentation of women.
