ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with women’s possibilities of action and their social and political networks in the Roman imperial milieu. The purpose of this chapter is not, however, to elaborate once again the fact that women could not hold an office and that at most and behind the scenes they exerted political influence on their husband, son or brother. Likewise, it does not provide biographies of any imperial women. Instead, it focuses on gender relationships as they can be reconstructed among a particularly elite circle in the period from the Flavians to the Severi, that is between 69 and 193 CE. The imperial women highlighted held prominent social positions that permitted privileges but also came with duties, and that bound them to the center of political power. Similar to the men in this milieu, including the emperor himself, these women were integrated into the representation and legitimization of the imperial power as part of a patriarchal ruling structure.
