The Emperor’s Mother
Had Julia Agrippina Minor (Agrippina the Younger, 15 CE-59 CE) known that her son Nero would ultimately have her killed, she might have reconsidered giving […]
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Caligula’s Sisters in the Plot of the Three Daggers
At long last, Tiberius was dead. After twenty-three long years marked by fear, mistrust, and paranoia, the grim and utterly unlikable Emperor Tiberius met
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The Maligning of Medusa
Everyone wants to lay claim to Medusa—the legendary mortal Gorgon with snakes for hair, whose petrifying stare would turn onlookers into stone. Psychoanalysts argue
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The Madness of Messalina
At the legendary nuptials, the aroma of exotic spices and the sound of raucous laughter filled the air as guests were feted on savory
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Saint Theodora
When we consider the pious lives of saints, images of self-sacrificing martyrs come to mind, devout adherents passionately immolating themselves for a higher cause. So
Theodora The Great: From Mistress to Monarch
One of the most influential and powerful empresses of late antiquity, Theodora’s (c 497-548) life reads like a melodrama where she plays many roles: actress,
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The Passion of Dido
Commissioned by none other than Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus after his decisive victory at Actium over Antony and Cleopatra, Virgil’s Aeneid is a patrilineal tale
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The Emperor’s Daughter
All of Rome was in an uproar. No one had imagined that even a cold fish like Augustus was capable of exiling his only biological
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The Crimes of Agrippina the Younger
Agrippina, Julian-Claudian Empress The ancient chroniclers would have us believe that Julia Agrippina the Minor better known as Agrippina the Younger (16 CE-59 CE)
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