‘An exhilaratingly revisionist account of the women from the Julio-Claudian dynasty… Smith is a polished and exhilarating writer of mordant wit. She guides the reader skillfully through the intricacies of this vast extended family… She makes the precious legacy of the western Classics serve a profound – and provocative – purpose’ Daily Telegraph, Edith Hall

‘Debunking misogynist myths of ancient Rome… this retelling of the lives of much-maligned Roman women sees their plight through a contemporary feminist lens’ Guardian

'She argues passionately and credibly that these men were in fact “sexual predators and callous abusers”, too often given a free pass… a diligent attempt to correct the record, and no one can deny after reading it that the life of a woman in ancient Rome, even a very wealthy and well-connected one, was based on control by men and was often very dangerous' The Times

'Smith writes with great force about how women were abused and murdered on a horrifying scale in ancient Rome… Misogyny certainly wasn't built in a day. As Smith shows, Rome played its part in fostering present cultures, in which male violence is all too common' Independent

‘What Joan Smith has done is remarkable: a wholesale challenge to rethink the Julio-Claudian dynasty' TLS

‘Smith has combined two of her fiercest passions, Classics and feminism, to rehabilitate them. She picks out the misogyny woven into the ancient texts and draws uncomfortable comparisons to contemporary attitudes and sex-based violence' New Stateman

If anyone needed to drag the men of the Julio-Claudian Empire into the light to account for their treatment of the women in their lives, no one could do it more effectively than Smith' The Critic

'Joan Smith has fought for women her entire working life. Now she takes that struggle to the ancient world… she both opens up a new perspective on ancient Rome and sheds fresh light on our current world… Eye-opening' Jonathan Freeland, author of The Escape Artist