Agrippina: Empress, Exile, Hustler, Whore
They said she was a tyrant, a murderer, and "the most wicked woman in history." She kicked her way into the male spaces of politics and demanded to be recognised as an equal and an leader. For her audacity, she was murdered by her son and reviled by history. She was the sister, niece, wife and mother of emperors.
She was an empress in her own right. And she was a nuanced, fearless trail-blazer in the Roman world.” The story of Agrippina - the first empress of Rome – is the story of an empire at its bloody, extravagant, chaotic, ruthless height.
Shelved by 1 Litcadian
Reviews
- adventurouschallengingemotionalinformativereflectiveFast-paced
Finished October 24, 2024
Another banger from my favorite Roman history author! An excellent exploration of how much it is possible to know about Agrippina, with a refreshing lack of taking the biased ancient chroniclers at their word. I always enjoy the open discussion of gaps in the historical record, as well as the frankness with which imagined potential events are described. Even if I don't find everything convincing, the historical support for some of the extrapolations is always clear and reasonable. And while it's a book about an extremely powerful woman she is always presented as a Roman woman and the narrative never descends into cheap girlbossery.