Women of the Roman Empire

While most monographs that touch on women and Roman law in the Early Empire tend to treat those subjects in separate spheres, i.e. either analyses of Roman laws that rarely deal with women or examinations of Roman women vis-à-vis only those laws that pertain to their sex (e.g. marriage), we must not lose sight of the wider political implications concerning women, adultery and treason under the Julio-Claudian emperors.

The position of flaminicae of the imperial cult enabled elite women living in the provinces and Italian cities to assume a public role more significant than that of elite women of Rome, where the imperial family was the center of focus.