What do you think?
Rate this book
Women in Antiquity
Clodia Metelli: The Tribune's Sister
Clodia: The Tribune's Sister is the first full-length biography of a Roman aristocrat whose colorful life, as described by her contemporaries, has inspired numerous modern works of popular fiction, art, and poetry. Clodia, widow of the consul Metellus Celer, was one of several prominent females who made a mark on history during the last decades of the Roman Republic. As the eldest sister of the populist demagogue P. Clodius Pulcher, she used her wealth and position to advance her brother's political goals. For that she was brutally reviled by Clodius' enemy, the orator M. Tullius Cicero, in a speech painting her as a scheming, debauched whore. Clodia may also have been the alluring mistress celebrated in the love poetry of Catullus, whom he calls "Lesbia" in homage to Sappho and depicts as beautiful, witty, but also false and corrupt. From Cicero's letters, finally, we receive glimpses of a very different woman, a great lady at her leisure. This study examines Clodia in
the contexts of her family background, the societal expectations for a woman of her rank, and the turbulent political climate in which she operated. It weighs the value of the several kinds of testimony about her and attempts to extract a picture as faithful to historical truth as possible. The manner in which Clodia was represented in writings of the period, and the motives of their authors in portraying her as they did, together shed considerable light on the role played by female figures in Roman fiction and historiography.
the contexts of her family background, the societal expectations for a woman of her rank, and the turbulent political climate in which she operated. It weighs the value of the several kinds of testimony about her and attempts to extract a picture as faithful to historical truth as possible. The manner in which Clodia was represented in writings of the period, and the motives of their authors in portraying her as they did, together shed considerable light on the role played by female figures in Roman fiction and historiography.
224 pages, Paperback
First published February 3, 2011
6 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 19, 2016
A feminist attempt to reclaim Clodia
Clodia Metelli is one of the best known women of Republican Rome - and has reappeared frequently in fictional works such as Saylor's The Venus Throw, Dunmore's Counting the Stars and Wilder's The Ides Of March. The constants have been themes of sexual abuse, incest, and licentiousness as she prances around Rome in her transparent clothing, seducing men as she goes...
In this first full-length biography (as far as that is possible) of Clodia, Marilyn Skinner, a feminist Classics professor at the University of Arizona, corrects the more sensationalist representations of Clodia and coolly analyses the sources (Cicero primarily) for what we might really be able to know about Clodia.
Inevitably we know most about her from her relationships with men: Cicero himself, who tears into her viciously in the Pro Caelio, but presents a very different relationship to her in his letters; her relationships with her brothers, especially Clodius Pulcher who was instrumental in getting Cicero exiled from Rome; and the relationship between Clodia and Catullus' 'Lesbia' in his searing love poetry.
As part of an ongoing project to recuperate, however provisionally, women and women's lives in antiquity this is a book to be applauded. And if we are left still never quite knowing Clodia, that's not Skinner's fault. So as far as possible from the dearth of sources, this allows us to reclaim Clodia - but full access to Roman women and their lives remains, and possibly will always remain, frustratingly elusive.
ps. Many of the sources are collected, albeit problematically, in Clodia: A Sourcebook but in a rather 'dumbed down' and simplistic form, and only in English translation without the originals.
Clodia Metelli is one of the best known women of Republican Rome - and has reappeared frequently in fictional works such as Saylor's The Venus Throw, Dunmore's Counting the Stars and Wilder's The Ides Of March. The constants have been themes of sexual abuse, incest, and licentiousness as she prances around Rome in her transparent clothing, seducing men as she goes...
In this first full-length biography (as far as that is possible) of Clodia, Marilyn Skinner, a feminist Classics professor at the University of Arizona, corrects the more sensationalist representations of Clodia and coolly analyses the sources (Cicero primarily) for what we might really be able to know about Clodia.
Inevitably we know most about her from her relationships with men: Cicero himself, who tears into her viciously in the Pro Caelio, but presents a very different relationship to her in his letters; her relationships with her brothers, especially Clodius Pulcher who was instrumental in getting Cicero exiled from Rome; and the relationship between Clodia and Catullus' 'Lesbia' in his searing love poetry.
As part of an ongoing project to recuperate, however provisionally, women and women's lives in antiquity this is a book to be applauded. And if we are left still never quite knowing Clodia, that's not Skinner's fault. So as far as possible from the dearth of sources, this allows us to reclaim Clodia - but full access to Roman women and their lives remains, and possibly will always remain, frustratingly elusive.
ps. Many of the sources are collected, albeit problematically, in Clodia: A Sourcebook but in a rather 'dumbed down' and simplistic form, and only in English translation without the originals.
October 2, 2022
Ganska ickedramatisk genomgång av Clodia, som framförallt framställer henne som en god allierad till sin släkt, och kontextualiserar källorna kring henne i deras juridiska (häcklande) tradition.
August 20, 2017
This series of biographies of important women in antiquity is a major achievement. Most of the women who are studied are royalty. Clodia is one of the few exceptions (Hypatia is the other). She is still a woman if the highest nobility, but like her near contemporary Cleopatra, Clodia can only be viewed through the polemics of male writers. Skinner does a great job exploring the evidence we have for Clodia and offering judicious interpretations where necessary.
Unfortunately, due to the scarcity of sources about Clodia's life, there is much we cannot know. And this book seems at times to be more a study of the important men in her life: her brothers, husband, lovers, and enemies. Still, this is a great resource for an important time in the republic and it considers this period and its actors from a new point of view. If you have any interest in the Late Roman Republic or women in antiquity, this is a must-read.
Unfortunately, due to the scarcity of sources about Clodia's life, there is much we cannot know. And this book seems at times to be more a study of the important men in her life: her brothers, husband, lovers, and enemies. Still, this is a great resource for an important time in the republic and it considers this period and its actors from a new point of view. If you have any interest in the Late Roman Republic or women in antiquity, this is a must-read.
January 4, 2022
Easy to read biography of Clodia Metelli. I chose this book not only to learn about Clodia's (literary) life, but also the times she lived in, and I was not disappointed. Skinner provides a lot of detail about the political and social situation in Rome of the 60s and 50s BCE. That's a time period I don't know as much about, and I'm hoping to learn more this year.
Even though I went into this biography most excited for the final two chapters (titled "Palatine Medea" and "Lesbia"), I wound up preferring the first half of the book. I learned most from the chapter on Cicero as a historical source; the chapter on Clodia's Claudian ancestors and their cultural memory; and the chapter on Roman women's wealth and male perceptions thereof. It's fascinating how women's accumulation of wealth and money in the late Republic led increasingly anxious Roman men to suspect that those same women were having lots of sex outside of marriage. It's almost like the real problem to Roman men was their own hypothetically decreasing control over women's bodies and movement.
For some reason, I found the chapters on Clodia in the Pro Caelio and Catullus' Lesbia a little hard to follow. I'll probably want to read them again one of these days.
One thing I took away from this book was that relationships in ancient Rome were tremendously complicated. For instance, after destroying Clodia in the Pro Caelio, Cicero possibly wanted to buy her gardens ten years later. What on earth was their relationship? And I also thought it was interesting how Clodia got accused of committing incest with her brother for years, and then when he's brutally murdered on the road, no one wrote down how Clodia reacted to his death. Even though they wrote down details about Clodius' gigantic, chaotic funeral and his wife's intense response, Clodia is nowhere to be seen. Skinner argues Clodia's literary absence at this time is because she probably responded to Clodius' death in a conventional way. But why be conventional then? Or more to the point, why would she be depicted as conventional then?
Also, Skinner's subsection about the rise of sine manu marriage and the societal implications that trend had for the Roman aristocracy of the late Republic added depth to my earlier understanding of the time period. After the end of the Punic Wars, Rome gained supremacy over the western Mediterranean, and by the late Republic, they were the powerhouse of the area. That meant that Roman aristocratic families gained a lot of land and money at this time. So, aristocratic daughters were granted increasingly large dowries, which their birth families didn't actually want to lose if the marriage failed or the daughter died in childbirth, etc. Hence the rise of sine manu marriages, which kept a daughter and her property bound to her birth family, not to her marital family. Skinner points out an implication sine manu marriage probably had for many aristocratic Roman women: tied more closely to their birth families, Roman women might have been more invested in the success of their paternal brothers than in that of their husbands. This possibility made a lot of sense to me.
Over all, I learned a lot from this biography, and I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the Women in Antiquity series.
Even though I went into this biography most excited for the final two chapters (titled "Palatine Medea" and "Lesbia"), I wound up preferring the first half of the book. I learned most from the chapter on Cicero as a historical source; the chapter on Clodia's Claudian ancestors and their cultural memory; and the chapter on Roman women's wealth and male perceptions thereof. It's fascinating how women's accumulation of wealth and money in the late Republic led increasingly anxious Roman men to suspect that those same women were having lots of sex outside of marriage. It's almost like the real problem to Roman men was their own hypothetically decreasing control over women's bodies and movement.
For some reason, I found the chapters on Clodia in the Pro Caelio and Catullus' Lesbia a little hard to follow. I'll probably want to read them again one of these days.
One thing I took away from this book was that relationships in ancient Rome were tremendously complicated. For instance, after destroying Clodia in the Pro Caelio, Cicero possibly wanted to buy her gardens ten years later. What on earth was their relationship? And I also thought it was interesting how Clodia got accused of committing incest with her brother for years, and then when he's brutally murdered on the road, no one wrote down how Clodia reacted to his death. Even though they wrote down details about Clodius' gigantic, chaotic funeral and his wife's intense response, Clodia is nowhere to be seen. Skinner argues Clodia's literary absence at this time is because she probably responded to Clodius' death in a conventional way. But why be conventional then? Or more to the point, why would she be depicted as conventional then?
Also, Skinner's subsection about the rise of sine manu marriage and the societal implications that trend had for the Roman aristocracy of the late Republic added depth to my earlier understanding of the time period. After the end of the Punic Wars, Rome gained supremacy over the western Mediterranean, and by the late Republic, they were the powerhouse of the area. That meant that Roman aristocratic families gained a lot of land and money at this time. So, aristocratic daughters were granted increasingly large dowries, which their birth families didn't actually want to lose if the marriage failed or the daughter died in childbirth, etc. Hence the rise of sine manu marriages, which kept a daughter and her property bound to her birth family, not to her marital family. Skinner points out an implication sine manu marriage probably had for many aristocratic Roman women: tied more closely to their birth families, Roman women might have been more invested in the success of their paternal brothers than in that of their husbands. This possibility made a lot of sense to me.
Over all, I learned a lot from this biography, and I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the Women in Antiquity series.
November 26, 2017
Well researched look into the life of one of the most infamous women of the late Roman Republic. Skinner successfully adds flesh to a much maligned women and attempts to draw fact out of the fiction spouted by Cicero and the poet Catullus. Recommended for those with an interest in Late Roman Republican society, women in the ancient world or those who simply want to know more about this fascinating woman.
August 15, 2024
Vivid and meticulous, Skinner's reconstruction of Clodia Metelli's life stands out, being the first full (to the best of her ability) biography of this fascinating woman in history. Skinner's Clodia is complex and human, something I've come to appreciate after months of reading other scholarly accounts that take Cicero's word for how Clodia actually behaved.
December 13, 2023
this is a very good biography of clodia, inasmuch as it is possible to write a biography of clodia with the fragmentary evidence we have. i really liked all of the different source angles and the extent to which we look at larger (republican era) society to try filling in some gaps! clodia truly was, as the kids say, a Girlboss
October 16, 2015
A fascinating work of biographical reconstruction. This book is extremely well written and makes great use of the wry wit of many of the story's players (a guy saw me reading it in a coffee shop and laughing and asked if I would recommend it). This was a great book for me. I have some (rather rusty, alas) Latin knowledge and a deep fondness for Cicero's Pro Caelio speech, from which much of the vilification is drawn. I started the bestselling biography of Cleopatra while I was in the middle of this and was disappointed that it was so much less scholarly than this book.
April 5, 2020
The first time I have read something about Clodia Metelli that does not fall for misogynist categorization of this Roman woman. This book seeks justice and rewriting the history.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews