Servilia and her Family

Susan Treggiari (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

404 Seiten

2019
Oxford University Press (Verlag)
978-0-19-882934-8 (ISBN)

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Servilia is often cited as one of the most influential women of the late Roman Republic, linked both to Caesar and, by familial ties, to two of his eventual assassins. This exploration of her role in the resulting political upheaval reveals much about the ways in which Romans of both sexes exerted influence and the place of women in high society.

Servilia is often cited as one of the most influential women of the late Roman Republic. Though she was a high-born patrician, her grandfather died disgraced and her controversial father was killed before he could stand for the consulship; she herself married twice, but both husbands were mediocre. Nevertheless, her position in the ruling class still afforded her significant social and political power, and it is likely that she masterminded the distinguished marriages of her one son, Brutus, and her three daughters. During her second marriage she began an affair with Iulius Caesar, which probably lasted for the rest of his life and is further indicative of the force of her charm and her exceptional intelligence.

The patchiness of the sources means that a full biography is impossible, though in suggesting connections between the available evidence and the speculative possibilities open to women of Servilia's status this volume aims to offer an insightful reconstruction of her life and position both as a member of the senatorial nobility and within her extended and nuclear family. The best attested period of Servilia's life, for which the chief source is Cicero's letters, follows the murder of Caesar by her son and her son-in-law, Cassius, who were leaders among the crowd of conspirators in the Senate House on the Ides of March in 44 BC. We find her energetically working to protect the assassins' interests, also defending her grandchildren by the Caesarian Lepidus when he was declared a public enemy and his property threatened with confiscation. Exploring the role she played during these turbulent years of the late Republic reveals much about the ways in which Romans of both sexes exerted influence and sought to control outcomes, as well as about the place of women in high society, allowing us to conclude that Servilia wielded her social and political power effectively, though with discretion and within conventional limits.

Susan Treggiari is Bass Professor Emeritus in the Department of Classics of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, and a retired member of the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford. Brought up in Gloucestershire, she was educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, before taking up teaching posts mostly in Canada (University of Ottawa, 1970-1982) and the United States (Stanford University, 1982-2001). She has served as President of both the Association of Ancient Historians and the American Philological Association, and is a member of the American Academy and an Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall. Her work on slaves and freed slaves later led her to focus on the Roman family and she has published monographs on the women of Cicero's family, Roman social history, and Roman marriage.

Frontmatter
Abbreviations
Stemmata
1: Servilia's World
2: Family
3: Childhood (c. 100-c. 88)
4: Adolescence and Marriage to Brutus (c. 88-78)
5: The Wife of Silanus (77-60)
6: Home and Forum (59-50)
7: The Iuniae (?c. 75-49)
8: Brutus (85-49)
9: Under the Domination of Caesar (49-44)
10: The Ides and the Aftermath (44-)
11: Servilia's Place in Society
12: Interactions
Appendices
1. Laelia
2. Servilia, Wife of L. Lucullus cos. 74
3. The Cassii
4. Mid-First Century Servilii and Caepiones
5. Women in the British Political Class
6. Servilia in Some Modern English Novels
Endmatter
Glossary
Chronology of Servilia's Lifetime
Bibliography
Index of persons
Index of subjects
Index of principal textual sources

Erscheinungsdatum	18.01.2019
Verlagsort	Oxford
Sprache	englisch
Maße	164 x 242 mm
Gewicht	774 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies
ISBN-10	0-19-882934-5 / 0198829345
ISBN-13	978-0-19-882934-8 / 9780198829348
Zustand	Neuware