Jennifer Szalai at the NY Times:
If social media is to be believed, men can’t stop thinking about the Roman Empire, particularly its “alpha male” elements. Anyone similarly obsessed would do well to pick up a copy of “Emperor of Rome,” an erudite and entertaining new book by the redoubtable classics scholar and feminist Mary Beard.
Beard, whose previous books include “SPQR” and “The Fires of Vesuvius,” points to the conspicuous role played by women in the histories of the emperors that were handed down through the ages. Most enduring has been “the stereotype of the scheming woman,” who (supposedly) manipulated powerful men into doing her bidding (or else poisoned them when they didn’t). Beard, citing more recent examples of women who have been condemned for their husbands’ behavior, remarks that it is still fashionable to “blame the wife.”
more here.