Fulvia: Breaking the rules in Ancient Rome

Speaker: Jane Draycott

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.

Using Fulvia as a guide, historian Jane Draycott, author of Fulvia: The Woman Who Broke All the Rules in Ancient Rome, invites us 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.

Book sales

You can buy copies of many of our speakers’ books from Fox Lane Books, a local independent bookseller and Festival partner. In some cases, author signed bookplates are available too.

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