Letters from Women in the Roman World

This anthology presents letters written by fifteen women in the ancient Roman world, stretching from the 120s BCE to the 530s CE. In these pages, readers will meet an aristocratic woman in Rome advising her son not to run for public office; a woman at a military fort sending a birthday invitation to a friend; a traveler abroad sending updates back to her community at home; and many other voices who, in their immediacy and energy, shrink the distance between the ancient world and our own. In a refreshing departure from the traditional Latin curriculum, this broad and diverse collection provides students with a chance to explore Roman history from the perspectives of the women who lived it and, in some cases, forged it. Each letter is presented in the original Latin, with same-page grammatical and vocabulary aids.