The list below includes
Roman women who were notable for their family connections, or their sons or husbands, or their own actions. In the earlier periods, women came to the attention of (later) historians either as poisoners of their husbands (a very few cases), or as wives, daughters, and mothers of great men such as Scipio Africanus. In later periods, women exercised or tried to exercise political power either through their husbands (as did
Fulvia and
Livia Drusilla) or political intrigues (as did
Clodia and
Servilia), or directly (as did
Agrippina the younger and later Roman empresses). Even the
Severan dynasty from the beginning to the end was completely dominated by four powerful and calculating women.
Second daughter of king
Servius Tullius. She killed her husband, sister, and father, and became the last Queen of Rome. She and her family were exiled after Lucretia's suicide and the overthrow of the monarchy.
Aemilia Tertia (с. 230 – 163 or 162 BC), wife of
Scipio Africanus and mother of
Cornelia (see below), noted for the unusual freedom given her by her husband, her enjoyment of luxuries, and her influence as role model for elite Roman women after the Second Punic War. Her date of birth, marriage, and death are all unknown. Her husband's birth and death dates are also not known precisely, but approximated.
Cornelia (с. 190s – c. 115 BC), virtually deified by Roman women as a model of feminine virtues and
Stoicism, but never officially deified. The first Roman woman, whose approximate birth year and whose year of death is known, thanks to a law she had passed to allow her granddaughter to inherit.
Publilia (1st century BC), the name of a woman of the gens Publilius. She was killed in 154 BC for poisoning her husband, the consul of the preceding year.
Antonia Minor (1st century BC – 1st century AD), mother of Emperor
Claudius and
Germanicus, favorite niece of
Augustus Caesar, considered a role model for women in the Roman Empire after she refused to remarry and spent the rest of her life raising her children and grandchildren.
Grandmother of
Elagabalus and
Alexander Severus. Best known for her plotting the restoration of the Severan dynasty to the Roman throne after the assassination of
Caracalla and the usurpation of the throne by
Macrinus.
Mother of emperor
Elagabalus, she was her son's regent. After an uprising led by the Praetorian Guard, she entered the camp to protect her son, but was slain along with Elagabalus by the
Praetorian Guard in 222.
Mother of Roman emperor
Alexander Severus and remained one of his chief advisors throughout his reign. She was killed in 235 by rebel soldiers along with her son.
Wife of emperor
Aurelian. After Aurelian's death, she briefly ruled the Roman Empire, until the new emperor,
Marcus Claudius Tacitus was chosen by the Senate.