“Roman Women” by Eve D’Ambra, Cambridge University Press 2007

Cover image from Cambridge University Press

Ancient Rome engulfs any person interested in learning about one of the greatest civilizations in antiquity. One specialized area of study includes how women in ancient Rome lived. Studying women in Ancient Rome is an unwieldy subject from the plethora of sources and examples from multiple classes including aristocratic, lower and servant classes. The most accessible studies that are undertaken examine women of noble or aristocratic status in Rome. Finding interesting and engaging studies on everyday life of Roman women can be hard to find, though the subject is increasing with more published works.

The Cambridge University Press series about the Introduction to Roman Civilization has some of the best introductory work on the market for any enthused reader on Ancient Rome.  The published work titled Roman Women  brings an unwieldy subject to fit into anyone's hands by studying the mundane and less exciting aspects of life for women in Ancient Rome.
This volume is credited to Eve D’Ambra from Vassar College, located in Poughkeepsie, New York. Dr. D’Ambra is a professor at Vassar College’s Art Department. Do you like pictures? The introductory book on women living in Ancient Rome includes a plethora of pictures of artifacts held in museums around the world. Aside from the list of illustrations creating half pages of text to read – for lazy students just kidding-- the eloquent illustrations help visualize the life of women in Ancient Rome. On top of the visualization the illustrations bring they also help understand the arguments and information provided by the author by having the reader be able to see the said illustration that the author references in her work. As with the title of the Cambridge series, Dr. D’Ambra’s book elevates an introductory look into the specialized study of Roman civilization. 

At a brief one-hundred and eighty pages, Roman Women illustrates an interesting section of Ancient Rome in a quick and informative read. As this book is for the newly interested reader, the author graciously includes a glossary that will help with definitions for the  readers. The glossary is an excellent edition that not all scholarly works include. On top of the glossary, the author includes two outstanding features that allow the reader to learn more about the topics discussed in her monograph.  Every superb work of scholarship needs to include a suggested reading list. D’Ambra’s work includes an in-depth bibliography that the reader can scour to find other published works of interest. The second item that the author adds to her introductory work is a short biography of Roman writers from Apuleius to Virgil .  Though the Roman writers’ short biography is essential to the newcomers of Roman civilization, D’Ambra does not include a list of their works for the interested reader to pursue.

Dr. D’Ambra’s addition to the Cambridge series on Roman Civilization brings an interesting subject to readers that did not study Ancient Rome at the University; however, this book is great for a student of Ancient Rome to brush up on the subject of women during the Roman Empire. The price of scholarly works can be highly priced but Roman Women is priced affordably for a monograph. However, I have introduced amounts of praise and positive features of D’Ambra’s work, her book Roman Woman length needs to be longer to around two-hundred and fifty pages. At just under two hundred pages in length, Roman Women is more a brief book about Roman Women rather than an introductory work.  Overall Dr. D’Ambra’s monograph, Roman Women, is an excellent work that will delight even the most learned student on Ancient Rome.

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