Jane Draycott reclaims the life story of Fulvia, one of the most powerful women of the late Roman Republic "Light and thorough, wide-reaching and focused, entertaining but not sensationalist."--Financial Times
Fulvia was born into wealth, privilege, and prestige around the year 80 BCE, yet there was nothing inherently special about her--she was not a saint, an empress, or a queen. But during the years leading up to the fall of the Roman Republic, Fulvia was moving in the most powerful social circles, and by her death in 40 BCE she had amassed a degree of political and military power unprecedented for a woman.
Fulvia's success came at considerable cost, however. None of her three marriages to politically powerful men--most famously to Marc Antony--lasted, and three of her five children died violently. She was repeatedly ridiculed for daring to step outside the confines of the domestic sphere. The deliberate and systematic destruction of her reputation shaped her legacy for two millennia.
Ample literary, documentary, and archaeological sources for Fulvia exist, yet most contemporary depictions of her were extremely negative. Historian Jane Draycott, reading between the lines of the ancient evidence, proposes a more nuanced interpretation. Using Fulvia as a guide, she invites readers to visit an unfamiliar Rome, one in which women played a crucial role during Rome's violent transition from a republic to the dictatorship of the Roman Empire.
About the Author :
Jane Draycott is a historian and archaeologist, and the author of Cleopatra's Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow and co-director of the university's Games and Gaming Lab.
Review :
"Light and thorough, wide-reaching and focused, entertaining but not sensationalist."--Financial Times "Fulvia follows its subject through the late Roman Republic with style and authority."--Maxwell Carter, Wall Street Journal
"Timely and welcome."--Sunday Times
"Draycott is an engaging writer who conveys Roman history in a lively and accessible way, and with a dry wit. . . . Fulvia succeeds brilliantly."--Times Literary Supplement
"Fascinating, . . . [and] a must-read for anyone interested in the complexities of women's power in antiquity. . . . Draycott's meticulous research sifts fact from fiction, revealing how Fulvia not only challenged the Roman patriarchy but also shaped the course of history in her own right."--Amanda Foreman, historian, on Instagram
"Fair and reflective. . . . Anyone wishing to learn more about ancient Rome, and in particular the much-maligned Fulvia, will find a great deal to interest them in this book."--Ann Northfield, Historical Novel Society
"[A] fine biography."--Daily Mail
"Draycott presents a woman who was both ambitious and vulnerable, calculating and loyal--a figure shaped not only by the extraordinary pressures of civil war but by the gendered constraints of elite Roman society. This complexity is the book's triumph."--Jonathan Crain at Substack
"A fresh, insightful, and at times spellbindingly romantic chronicle of ancient Rome's power players."--Publishers Weekly
"How is it that Fulvia is not better known? To some extent, it is a matter of timing--as Jane Draycott observes. The women who took charge in the Roman Empire 100 years after Fulvia did not acknowledge her, yet they profited from her formidable example so that their own power moves were deemed not so aberrant as those in Fulvia's day."--Carl Rollyson, New York Sun
"Vitriolic allegations against thrice-widowed Fulvia by her enemies in Rome have stained her reputation for more than two millennia. Jane Draycott's impeccable research reveals a nuanced and vital biography of this fascinating woman of the Late Republic."--Adrienne Mayor, author of The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy
"Married to a series of powerful men, Fulvia actively choreographed the momentous happenings of her time. In this engaging work, Jane Draycott portrays a most unusual woman's role in the events that ultimately led to the fall of the Roman Republic."--Shadi Bartsch, translator of The Aeneid
"History may be written by the winners, but Jane Draycott has done a brilliant job bringing to life a fascinating, ambitious woman known to us almost exclusively through the words of her enemies. Draycott gives Fulvia back her rightful place as one of the most powerful and influential people (of any gender) in Rome during the last turbulent days of the Republic."--Donna Zuckerberg, author of Not All Dead White Men: Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age
"A sensitive biography, stylishly written. As she uncovers Fulvia's story, Draycott also reveals fascinating details about the lives of Roman women and adds a new perspective on the end of the Republic."--Josiah Osgood, author of Uncommon Wrath: How Caesar and Cato's Deadly Rivalry Destroyed the Roman Republic
"Fulvia is the enthralling tale of a Roman woman shamed for fighting for the survival of her family and for a public presence not allowed to women in the Roman Republic. Draycott's ability to sort through the historical slander to recover the lives, ambitions, and desires of ancient women is unparalleled."--Sarah E. Bond, author of Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire
"A nuanced and insightful portrait of Fulvia which fully explores her intelligence, ambition, and importance to Roman republican history, as well as the intense misogyny of the way she was portrayed by ancient sources. A fantastic and much needed book."--Emma Southon, author of A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women
"Both a long overdue reclamation of one of Rome's most important and maligned women and a captivating, fast-paced historical tale. Late republican Rome emerges as a bristling minefield of overlapping loyalties, enmities, love affairs, and feuds. And Fulvia emerges as a woman of her age--playing the game as it fell with remarkable, charismatic, transgressive tenacity."--Honor Cargill-Martin, author of Messalina
"A stirring reclamation of Fulvia from the footnotes of history--and from the role of villain that she has played for far too long. In this even-handed treatment of her character, Jane Draycott takes a cool historian's eye to the sources and balances the probable against the ridiculous--peeling away the layers of misogyny that have dogged Fulvia for centuries and repositioning her as a powerful woman who fell victim to the sexism of ancient Rome and of the forces of history."--Emily Hauser, author of Mythica: A New History of Homer's World, Through the Women Written Out of It
"With Fulvia, Jane Draycott has given us both a terrific read and a superb reconstruction of a life we should know better. Fulvia's brutal politicking adds a whole new dimension to the well-worn tale of Caesar's assassination, and to her third husband Antony's affair with Cleopatra. Highly recommended."--Catherine Fletcher, author of The Roads to Rome
