"She is a mass of riddles": Julia Augusta Agrippina and the sources
Agrippina the Younger fascinated ancient writers, and modern scholars continue to tell her story with relish.
The censure of powerful women : roman monarchy and gender anxiety
Roman literature is full of disparaging commentary on women. Pemales in general are depicted as greedy, susceptible to luxuria, at the mercy of their uncontrollable passions, deceitful, jealous and cruel; a woman in proximity to power will attempt to corrupt that power or usurp it for herself and her own personal desires.
Julio-Claudian empresses
The social framework in which Romans lived has been reexamined in recent years. One important focus, the study of Roman women and family, has emerged.1 Indeed, social historians argue that the roles generally played by wives and mothers are crucial keys to our understanding their value in Roman society.