Daisy Dunn

They weren’t all scheming poisoners: the maligned women of imperial Rome

Joan Smith criticises the distortions of Robert Graves in particular, whose villainisation of the empress Livia had no historical basis whatever

Statue of Livia, the wife of the Emperor Augustus. [Getty Images]
  • Comments

  • Unfortunately, She Was a Nymphomaniac: A New History of Rome’s Imperial Women

    Joan Smith

    William Collins, pp. 272, £25

Already a subscriber? Log in

This article is for subscribers only

Get a free bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label when you subscribe to The Spectator for just £12 in our Black Friday sale

Offer extended due to popular demand: ${days} days ${hours} hrs ${minutes} mins ${seconds} secs
  • Free bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky, worth £30
  • Unlimited access to our website and app
  • Enjoy Spectator newsletters and podcasts
  • Explore our online archive, going back to 1828

Read next

Trending

Alexander Larman

The new Jaguar is spectacularly hideous

Winston Churchill reputedly said ‘Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.’ This adage must have been at the forefront of the minds of Jaguar’s chief executives as they unveiled the brand’s new electric concept car, the Type 00, during Miami Art Week. The company has had a torrid past few

More on adultery

Also by Daisy Dunn

Latest

Comments

Join the debate

Comments are subscriber only. Subscribe to The Spectator today.

Already a subscriber? Log in