The First Ladies of Rome

What a great idea for a book this is - what a record of filial loathing, sexual scheming, parental neglect, suicide, fratricide, matricide, patricide, infanticide, incest and abuse… The result is a book both scholarly and racy… She has produced a book to be commended: one that restores to life some of the toughest, most colourful and most bizarre women who ever existed – Robert Harris * Sunday Times *[An] extraordinary story…a colourful, pacy survey of dominant Roman women – Tom Payne * Daily Telegraph *A beautifully observed, gripping chronicle and a triumphant achievement – Alison WeirAt last. A book that does not sell us the powerful, intriguing women of Rome simply as poisoners, schemers, femmes fatales, but that brings a wonderfully rich, varied and original range of evidence to bear on the reality of their extraordinary lives – Bettany Hughes, author of ‘Helen of Troy’ and ‘The Hemlock Cup’A tour de force of research… an illuminating story * Dailiy Mail *Bewitchingly enjoyable study – John Dugdale * Guardian *This wonderfully researched work displays wit and cultural reach * Independent *Excellent history…the stories Freisenbruch tells of political machinations and literary aspirations are among the most fascinating of any historical period * Independent on Sunday *

Annelise Freisenbruch was born in 1977 in Paget, Bermuda, and moved to the UK at the age of eight. She studied classics to postgraduate level at Newnham College, Cambridge, receiving a PhD in 2004. For five of the last ten years, she has taught classics at The Leys School in Cambridge. During that time, she has also worked as a research assistant on a number of popular books and films about the ancient world, and as a research officer exploring the interface between the arts and the law, at the King’s College Research Centre in Cambridge. She now lives in Dorset, where she teaches Latin. The First Ladies of Rome is her first book.

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