Women in Martial

Women in Martial (Oxford University Press) is the first detailed study of the portrayals of women in Martial’s Epigrams. Marchesi, who is director of Princeton’s Classics Language Program, proposes a novel method of examining femininity in the Flavian age through the combination of close readings of the poems with legal, historical, and rhetorical discussions. Marchesi explores how Roman women were expected to represent their fathers and reproduce for their husbands, while also being important figures in Martial’s work. This book gives readers an understanding of how Roman society constructed and regulated female identity.