Turton Godfrey. The Syrian Princesses: The Women Who Ruled Rome, AD 193-235

ACLS Humanities E-Book, 2008. — 220 p.Godfrey Turton sums up why anybody would be interested in the era of the Syrian Princesses (a.k.a. the Severan Dynasty) by talking about how it would make for a great movie (of made-for cable miniseries). At this point, the Roman Empire was effectively ruled by women, largely the mothers of the young emperors themselves. Much of this book is Turton's interpretation of Cassius Dio and Herodian but he adds a lot that you will not find in say, George Brauer's book on this same era. I only wish Turton had better citation of his sources and that he actually focused more on the women: Julia Domna, Julia Maesa, Julia Soemias and Julia Mamaea. These women still remain almost absolute ciphers by the end of this book. Turton seems a little hung up on Syrian temple prostitution which may or may not have anything to do whatsoever with the Julias. So, yes from the reign of Caracalla through the death of Alexander Severus a cabal of women were the power behind the throne of three Caesars. Caracalla was a deranged heir whose first act as emperor was to kill off his co-emperor brother, Geta. He was more interested in making war on German Marcomanni and the Persians than the day-to-day administration of the Roman Empire, which he delegated to his mother, Julia Domna who as luck would have it was quite able in the task. Caracalla's high-handed behavior inevitably led to his assassination and when the Praefect of the the Praetorian Guard was elevated to the purple, Domna's sister, Julia Maesa, plotted to get her son on the throne. Unfortunately, this son was 14 years old and less interested in running an empire than officiating worship for the cult of a strange Syrian god. When this emperor proved to be a liability, it is clear that Maesa plotted to have him replaced by his cousin, the son of Julia Mamaea: Alexander Severus who was groomed to mimc Marcus Aurelius. During this phase we have it on the historical record that one or more the Julias sat in on sessions of the Roman Senate, much to the consternation of the stodgy, old-fashioned, sexist Roman Senators. Again, no record of what the Julias did or said to the Senate exists and Turton doesn't hazard to make an educated guess. Nevertheless if you haven't read a narrative history of the Severan Dynasty, here's a great book to start with! If you are not familiar with Elagabalus or Alexander Severus and want to know more about the era of Roman history where women literally held the power over the emperors, then this book is a great place to start!