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|title=The First Ladies of Rome: The Women Behind the Caesars

|sort= First Ladies of Rome: The Women Behind the Caesars

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=978-0224085298

|pages=400

|publisher=Vintage

|date=August 2011

|website=http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Author/Freisenbruch,%20Annelise

|summary=History is much concerned with conquests and power, and for that reason the history of the women of the Roman world, who could not fight or vote, has gone largely unrecorded. In this book Ms Freisenbruch takes the little evidence left to us from coins, letters and statues, and creates a vivid picture of the first ladies and empresses of Rome which shows that in some ways modern political leaders' wives share many of the same challenges.

}}

Perhaps the most shocking thing to be gleaned from this fascinating history of the women who surrounded the Caesars is how easily their reputations were created, moulded and destroyed. Any woman who put a foot out of line in a culture where men held almost all the power could be accused of a litany of crimes which bore curious similarities with those of many another woman in similar circumstances. Incest and adultery were charges regularly levied against them, and the very fact that the details were identical in almost every case should give rise to suspicion about their accuracy. And yet history has accepted and spread these scandals as fact.

Another book about Roman history which links it firmly to today's political leaders is [[The Ruin of the Roman Empire by James J O'Donnell]].

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