Antonia Augusta: Portrait of a Great Roman Lady

Kokkinos, Nikos

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1901965058 ISBN 13: 9781901965056

Casa editrice: Libri Pubns Ltd, 2002

Antonia Augusta was the most powerful and influential Roman woman of her time. The daughter of Mark Antony, wife of Drusus, mother of Claudius, grandmother of Caligula and great-grandmother of Nero, she spent her entire life close to the seat of power and was a supremely important figure in Imperial Rome. In this lavishly illustrated biography Nikos Kokkinos draws upon a variety of evidence, including inscriptions, coins, papyri and sculpture, to illuminate Antonia's dramatic life. The literary sources are supplemented and corrected, presenting new perspectives of Antonia's life and its bearing on the lives of those close to her. We learn about her substantial business activities, the Imperial court she ran, the people who worked for her and her own powerful character and status. Important material is presented about the position of women in Roman society, the degree of freedom they could exercise in making moral choices, their control of property and their direct influence on public life.
The new 13,000-word chapter in this edition updates the story of Antonia by examining additional archaeological and historical material that has emerged in the last decade. It is pleasing to find that several new discoveries support the author's original position.

L'autore:

Nikos Kokkinos, an archaeologist and ancient historian, is currently Honorary Research Fellow at University College London.