"All women, because of their innate weakness, should be under the control of guardians" writes Cicero, curtly summarizing the status of women in Ancient Rome. Yet Roman women had more control than many believe. Stories of female artists, teachers, doctors, and even gladiators are scattered through the history of Imperial Rome; a Roman woman did not change her name when she married, her husband could not control her property or dowry, and she was free to divorce.
Royal women in particular - the wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of emperors - have made a profound impression on Roman history, long overlooked. This lively and attractive book vividly characterizes eleven such women, spanning the period from the death of Julius Caesar in 44BC to the third century AD and with an epilogue surveying empresses of later eras. The author's compelling biographies reveal their remarkable contributions towards the legacy of Imperial Rome, often tinged with tragedy, courage, and injustice.
- a pregnant Roman princess saves a Roman army through an act of personal heroism
- three 3rd century empresses rule the most powerful state on Earth, presiding over unprecedented social and political reform
- though revered by her husband, an empress is immortalized in history for infidelity and corruption by students of her greatest enemy.
Drawing from a broad range of documentation, Jasper Burns has painted portraits of these exceptional women that are colorful, sympathetic, and above all profoundly human. The women and their worlds are brought visually to life through photographs of over 300 ancient coins and through the author's own illustrations.
This book will be highly valuable tonumismatists, students and scholars of Roman history or women's studies, and enjoyable to any reader.

"All women, because of their innate weakness, should be under the control of guardians" writes Cicero, curtly summarizing the status of women in Ancient Rome. Yet Roman women had more control than many believe. Stories of female artists, teachers, doctors, and even gladiators are scattered through the history of Imperial Rome; a Roman woman did not change her name when she married, her husband could not control her property or dowry, and she was free to divorce.
Royal women in particular - the wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of emperors - have made a profound impression on Roman history, long overlooked. This lively and attractive book vividly characterizes eleven such women, spanning the period from the death of Julius Caesar in 44BC to the third century AD and with an epilogue surveying empresses of later eras. The author's compelling biographies reveal their remarkable contributions towards the legacy of Imperial Rome, often tinged with tragedy, courage, and injustice.
- a pregnant Roman princess saves a Roman army through an act of personal heroism
- three 3rd century empresses rule the most powerful state on Earth, presiding over unprecedented social and political reform
- though revered by her husband, an empress is immortalized in history for infidelity and corruption by students of her greatest enemy.
Drawing from a broad range of documentation, Jasper Burns has painted portraits of these exceptional women that are colorful, sympathetic, and above all profoundly human. The women and their worlds are brought visually to life through photographs of over 300 ancient coins and through the author's own illustrations.
This book will behighly valuable to numismatists, students and scholars of Roman history or women's studies, and enjoyable to any reader.

A personal memoir by a hobbyist who started collecting U. S. coins in the 1950s from pocket change and gradually expanded into Lincoln Cent die varieties and world, ancient, and medieval coins. Includes the author's experiences at coin shows and his involvement with a large collection assembled during the 1930s. Often amusing and educational, these stories touch a wide range of topics - including the psychology of collecting. By the author of Irish Hammered Pennies of Edward IV and Richard III, numerous articles in The Celator: Journal of Ancient and Medieval Numismatics, Great Women of Imperial Rome, Commodus and the Five Good Emperors, and much more.

Biographical sketches of the "five good" Roman emperors: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, as well as the "bad emperor" Commodus. These short biographies are followed by an allegorical exercise in the form of imaginary letters from emperor to emperor that reveal a progression in their characters that parallels the moral development of a single individual. To simplify: from shrewdness (Nerva) to activity (Trajan) to knowledge (Hadrian) to virtue (Antoninus Pius) to wisdom (Marcus Aurelius). How could Marcus Aurelius' son Commodus (the bad guy in "Gladiator" and "Fall of the Roman Empire") surpass his excellent predecessors? According to history, he didn't. He broke the string of good emperors and his reign began an unrelenting decline in the Empire. However, he certainly tried to outdo all previous rulers - by attaining god-consciousness. He proclaimed himself to be the reincarnation of Hercules and the "son of God." This book is not a serious reappraisal of Commodus, but it may give a greater understanding of his aspirations in light of his predecessors and his father's values and advice (as shown in selected passages from the famous "Meditations"). By the author of "Great Women of Imperial Rome," "Roman Empresses," "Bulla Felix: The Roman Robin Hood," and "Vipsania: A Roman Odyssey."

Meditations on spirit, religion, human nature, relationships, ethics, morals, society, and much more by a woman far ahead of her time Mary Hamilton Caskie was born in 1863 and died in 1958 at the age of 94. Highly educated and from families prominent in Virginia and North Carolina, she spent years on Indian reservations in South Dakota and Arizona as the wife of a government physician. This life proved too much for her and she left her alcoholic husband, returned to the East with her three sons, attended Johns Hopkins University, and dedicated herself to scholarly pursuits and her own spiritual evolution. Her insights into human nature and human society are profound and often provocative, and her beliefs and attitudes incredibly progressive for a woman born in the South during the Civil War. At the age of 80, she remarked: "I belong to the 'old age' - though my ideas are in line with the 'new age'." "The Stewardship" is a remarkable glimpse into the mind of a remarkable woman. Written in the 1930s when she was in her seventies, it contains countless gems of wisdom and advice for living in the world and in one's own self. In some ways the world has changed a great deal since "The Stewardship" was written - and often as she expected it would. In others ways, things remain the same and always will, for human nature changes slowly if at all. Few "self-help" advisers of today have the experience, depth of understanding, and spiritual insight attained by this woman, whose thoughts were ahead of her time and whose aphorisms are invaluable guides for the journey of life.

In the summer of 1884, two Lucys from Virginia - Lucy Minor Davis (1840-1925) and Lucy Lee Trice (1857-1897) - took a grand tour of Europe. They followed a well-beaten path: home - New York - Ireland - Scotland - England - Netherlands - Belgium - Germany - Austria - Italy - Switzerland - France - England - Scotland - New York - home. The tour featured some rare and unforgettable moments. For example: performances by the legendary actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Mary Anderson, a meeting with the American sculptor Longworth Powers (son of Hiram Powers) at his studio in Florence, a minor eruption of Mt. Vesuvius at the crater's rim, a sermon delivered by the famous preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon in London, and a moving recital in Lucerne by Professor Meyer, the most noted organist of the day. These experiences were in addition to planned encounters with famous buildings, cities, natural wonders, and works of art. The Lucys traveled to Europe on the S. S. Furnessia, a steamer of the Anchor Line, and returned on the S. S. City of Rome. They were more than just traveling companions; they were close friends and first cousins, both descended from Thomas Jefferson's sister Martha Jefferson Carr. Each Lucy possessed a keen mind, a passion for reading, a profound Christian faith, and deep interests in art, literature, and history. They were well-read with some French, Latin, and a little German at their disposal. In other words, they were intellectually armed for Europe. With more than 160 illustrations.

Less than a year and a half before her death, a young woman from Virginia - a great (x3) niece of Thomas Jefferson - took ship in New York City for an extended tour of Jamaica. What she found there was exotic to her - the plants, the topography, the customs - not least the equality of races, which was still far in the future in her homeland. Martha was a teacher and published poet, and her journal and letters home are vivid, humorous, and often moving. She traveled in grand style in a four-in-hand carriage, visiting Kingston and Spanish Town in the south, Black River and Savannah La Mar in the west, and Lucea, Montego Bay, and Falmouth in the north. At Black River, she had her first ever experience of the seashore. She also visited some of the large sugar plantations that still flourished on the island. Martha endured several close calls on precipitous mountain roads and an ongoing struggle with a bad-tempered, unwanted suitor, the son of her hostess. Martha Jefferson Trice died unmarried at the age of 24 in 1880, but she lives on through her writings. This book includes a brief biography by her great (x2) nephew, Jasper Burns.

A picture book about reincarnation - a journey through time, from 1 billion years ago to the present and beyond. Imagine the Hindus, Buddhists, Pythagoreans, Orphics, Theosophists, Essenes, Gnostics, Bantus, Jains, and Platonists are right. Imagine that an individual soul inhabits many bodies, lives many lives, experiences many roles and places and times. What would the autobiography of a soul be like?