One of Rome’s most powerful women, Clodia has been described for over 2,000 years as a promiscuous, husband-murdering harlot thanks to one of Cicero’s most famous speeches. But Cicero was lying to protect his property and interests, classicist Douglas Boin argues. Like so many women libeled or erased from history, Clodia had a life that was much more interesting, complex, and nuanced than the version passed down through generations.
Drawing on neglected sources and his study of Roman lives, Boin reconstructs Clodia’s eventful life during politically divided and tumultuous times, from her privileged childhood to her picking up the family baton of egalitarian activism. She had charisma and power that struck fear into the heart of Rome’s political elite—until a sensational murder trial, which Boin describes as rife with corruption, brought about her fall from grace. In a Rome whose citizens were engaged in heated debates on imperialism, immigration, and enfranchisement, amid rising anxieties about women’s role in society, Clodia was an icon worth remembering, Boin says.
Boin’s new book, Clodia of Rome: Champion of the Republic (W. W. Norton), is available for purchase.
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