Verehrt – verdammt – vergessen

Of the mothers of the more than 60 emperors who ruled the Imperium Romanum from Augustus until the final division of the empire in 395, often little more is known than their name; sometimes even this has not survived. The literary, numismatic and epigraphic sources allow us to sketch biographies of only 15 emperor mothers. They are at the centre of this book. The works of the - exclusively male - ancient historians must be read critically. Many of them obviously had problems with self-confident or even ambitious women, whom they accuse of immoral behaviour, intrigues and even murder.