Caesar's Women (Paperback)

by Colleen McCullough (Author) "Brutus, I don't like the look of your skin..." (more)
Key Phrases: crossroads brethren, curule elections, curule dais, Publius Clodius, Pontifex Maximus, Pompeius Magnus (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Senator and debtor, general and seducer, orator and would-be world conqueror, Julius Caesar, as depicted in this fourth installment (after Fortune's Favorites) in McCullough's epic re-creation of ancient Rome, is both a force of nature and something of a momma's boy. He worships his sophisticated mother Aurelia, "a fount of experience and a mine of common sense," while dismissing as "not important" his "expensive, idle, and monumentally silly" second wife, Pompeia. Its title notwithstanding, this marvelously researched and detailed novel focuses on traditional male pursuits-political intrigue, war, conquest-in the corruption-riddled late Roman republic even as it elucidates the behind-the-scenes influence of women in a repressively patriarchal society. Caesar, though tenderly loving and protective toward his daughter, Julia, pledges her as a child to the adolescent Brutus, with whose mother-the cruel, scheming Servilia-the future dictator of Rome has a purely sexual affair. Years later, Caesar cancels the betrothal in order to use his blossoming daughter as bait to forge a political alliance with the commander of the Roman legions. Meanwhile, Cicero, Caesar's main rival, is portrayed as an incurable vacillator and social climber who displays scant gratitude toward his "sour" and "ugly" wife, Terentia, despite her foiling a conspiracy against his life. With great brio, and ample attention to Roman customs and rites, as well as to the religious, sexual and social institutions of the day, including slavery, McCullough captures the driven, passionate soul of ancient Rome. Illustrations; maps. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In the fourth book in her "Masters of Rome" series, McCullough (Fortune's Favorites, LJ 9/1/93) details Caesar's rise to power from 68-58 B.C. Caesar repeatedly outmaneuvers his enemies, who devise one scheme after another to bring about his political, economic, and social downfall. Eventually he allies himself with Pompey and Crassus to create a formidable triumverate. Despite the book's title, women play minor roles in the novel. Caesar consults his shrewd mother about strategy and depends on her to manage his household. He adores his daughter and misses her dead mother. Nonetheless, he consistently subordinates personal affection to political ambition, seducing the wives of his rivals and maintaining an emotional distance from his own wives and lovers. McCullough crams the book with details about Roman life and politics and includes many pages of notes and a glossary. Those readers following the series and others with an intense interest in the time period will enjoy this installment.?Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 696 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company; 1st edition (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068809371X
• ISBN-13: 978-0688093716
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #589,615 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As usual, well done historical Fiction by the Master, August 7, 2001

By	B. Merritt "filmreviewstew.com" (WWW.FILMREVIEWSTEW.COM, Pacific Grove, California United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Caesar's Women (Masters of Rome Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

I can think of no other books that encompass a lost society so well than the 'Masters of Rome' series. Caesar's Women is a marvel of research from this author. Fictionalizing it must have been very difficult...but then again, how could it not be. But reading it one feels like the author was the proverbial fly on the wall over 2,000 years ago. Amazing!

Caesar's Women focuses on the powerful roles that the ladies during Caesar's rise played in the formation of things to come. Aurelia (his mother) is undoubtedly the strongest of these, as is Servilia (Brutus' mother and Caesar's lusty wanted and dangerous woman). Julia, Caesar's daughter, plays a pivotal role as she is swept away from Brutus --- whom she was betrothed to --- and then given to Pompey (who is as happy as a clam since he sees her as a goddess figure and a way into the Julii line). My only problem with this portion of the story was that Pompey fell head over heels for Julia but never seems to see the political significance of it (for the Caesars). Pompey is a very powerful man with much dignitas and wealth. Surely he must have noticed how quickly Caesar agreed to break Julia's betrothal to Brutus and give her to him. But there is no mention of this, and the story only tells us how in love the two became. Pompey wasn't a fool.

That being said, I think Caesar's Women is a triumph for the history of the women of that time. They are always seen as insignificant to the arena and times, since men dominated. But Mrs. McCollough shows us the back rooms behind the Senate and the Plebian Assembly. Women were pivotal. And Caesar's Women doubly so. Extremely intriguing.

Of course, now it's on to Caesar --- the last book in the series thus far (at least to my knowledge). The build up of Clodius, Brutus, and Cato leaves a tingling in one's spine as you realize what is to come. The dagger! Oh god...where is that next book! I've got to start now!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Caesar Clashes with Bibulus, Cato and the Boni., November 14, 2005

By	Maximiliano F Yofre "Maxi" (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Caesar's Women (Masters of Rome Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ms McCullough has done a profound historical research in order to write her "Roman Saga" started with "The First Man in Rome" (1990), continued with "The Grass Crown" (1991), "Fortune's Favorites" (1993) and "Caesar's Women" (!1995).

She delivers an accurate picture of the late Roman Republic, bringing to life historically characters with amazing detail.
The author follows and reveals step by step all the intricacies of that rich and complex era.
Does this mean that the book is boring? By no means, Ms McCullough is able to show daily life, dressing, feeding, religious rituals, political and social structures in a magnificent fresco and at the same time construct an engaging story that will trap the reader for hours.

The story starts in the year 68 BC after Sulla's death. Pompeius Magnus, Julius Caesar and Marcus Crassus consolidate finally in triumvirate and defy Cato, Bibulus and the Senatorial Party. There are two major interesting issues described in this volume: Caesar's political growth thru ten years, giving the reader a complete picture of less known aspects of his life.
Second issue is feminine characters are brought into limelight. They are strong, willed, some beautiful, some cunning and most of them determined to succeed. They are all true Roman Matrons.

As in preceding volumes Ms McCullough continue extrapolating and giving wonderful explanations to odd issues as why Clodius hated so many contemporaries; why and when Caesar and Cicero started fencing and growing enemies.

Last but not least the author has drawn beautiful busts of the main characters; detailed maps of different ancient scenarios where action takes place and very complete glossary.

I advise reading the first volumes of the series, but even if you don't do it, you may start here and consider it as first part of Caesar's adulthood story.
I strongly recommend this book to any serious history aficionado!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Caesar's Women" a breezy, gossippy ride, December 29, 2002

By	Kris Dotto "Bookworm Extraordinaire" (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Far from the weightiness of "The First Man In Rome" and "The Grass Crown," yet nowhere as torpid as "Fortune's Favorites," Colleen McCullough's fourth installment in her Masters of Rome series, "Caesar's Women," is the perfect summer novel. It is light, airy, and filled with enough scandal and rancor to put any Judith Krantz or Terry McMillan novel to shame.

That said, it is too heavy on the scandal, too light on the politics, and McCullough weights the scale in favor of the scandal by making her Caesar an impossible man to beat or block. Caesar was an incredibly brilliant man, a political animal who achieved great military feats--but McCullough makes light of his faults by portraying his enemies as buffoons or fools, or worse. Cato the Younger was a bad politician, a drunkard, and a bigot; yet he was also one of the late Republic's great Stoics. Likewise, Cicero, albeit timid and insecure, was a great orator and a master of legal rhetorical technique; McCullough makes him a figure of ridicule all through the book. No matter what the challenge, Caesar comes through looking like a hero (or at least with the last word). And the scene with Lucullus is cringe-inducing--even though it was probably the reaction McCullough was hoping for in readers, it left me feeling as if I'd seen a bad bit of overacting.

Still . . . the book is titled "Caesar's Women," and the women are something to enjoy. Although McCullough likes to remind her audience of the patriarchal nature of Roman society (as if it could be forgotten!), still one fact remains: a Roman woman was not someone to be ignored. Be she widow, crone, Vestal, whore or lawful wife, her society and her culture acknowledged her existence, no matter how bounded it was by custom and morality. And although the surviving histories focus on the men, Roman women had great influence on their families, particularly their sons and daughters, and that influence contributed to the ideals of the Republic.

A grand example is Servilia, the wife of Decius Junius Silanus, mother of the young Brutus--a cruel, hateful, beautiful woman who falls utterly under Caesar's thumb. Of course the attraction is instant, but to call this a romance would be a misnomer. Servilia is in love; Caesar is simply in lust, and too perceptive of Servilia's true character to lose his heart to her. The relationship is so well portrayed, it makes up for the casting of Caesar as the Superman of the Republic.

At this stage of her life, Servilia is wed to a man she cordially despises, and is the mother of daughters she ignores and a son she browbeats into submission. Poor Brutus is so dominated by his mother that the few forms of rebellion he commits usually come back to bite him--avoiding an active lifestyle, for one, including his military training. Yet Servilia is also a force to be reckoned with, something Caesar keeps in mind as he avoids her attempts to strengthen their sexual intimacy into something more.

Caesar's favorite activity of cuckolding his political enemies is continued here. The victims are many, with the grandest display of outrage belonging to Cato. And McCullough does weaken his image as a flawless charmer in depicting his marriage to Pompeia Sulla. A "beautiful idiot," Pompeia is described as silly, dull, materialistic, tasteless--in short, almost every shortcoming ever ascribed to a woman except physical ugliness. Caesar's contempt is almost instant; his treatment of her, completely restricting her comings and goings, is tyrannical--but who enforces it all? His mother, Aurelia.

Perhaps the best female character McCullough has created is Aurelia, Caesar's mother, and she is phenomenal. Whenever Aurelia enters the scene, she captures attention. Her actions at the Bona Dea feast, with Clodius Pulcher, will make your hair stand on end. But McCullough aged her "portrait," just as she did Sulla's in "Fortune's Favorites"--and I doubt anyone could detest it as much as I do.

A close runner-up for best female character is Fulvia, Pulcher's wife. A screaming, uninhibited force of nature, Fulvia doesn't do much in "Caesar's Women," but when she's around it's impossible to ignore her. As for the most charming, that would be Julia, Caesar's daughter. A wise, sweet child, hardly precious or overweening (anyone remember the author's portrayal of young Cicero?), Julia is a heart-stealer from the first moment she appears. But for mousiest female, Calpurnia (Caesar's third wife) would take the prize. And for most unpleasant . . . Servilia would win the laurels. The poster child for the havoc a loveless childhood can wreak, Servilia darkens the scene whenever she appears--but it's impossible not to snicker and enjoy the mayhem that ensues when she does.

I've avoided going into detail about the book to keep from spoiling it for other readers. I will recommend it--it's a fine portrayal of the end of the Roman Republic, and it does a beautiful job of portraying Roman women in all their power, strength, and personality.