This book covers Julia?s life, and charts her travels throughout the Empire from Aswan to York during a period of profound upheaval, seeking the truth about this woman who inspired such extreme and contrasting views, exposing the instability of our sources about her, and characterizing a sympathetic, courageous, intelligent, and important woman. This book contains a fresh reassessment of the one of the most significant figures of her time and questions: ? Was Julia more powerful than earlier empresses? ? Did she really promote despotism? ? How seriously is her literary circle to be taken? As part of a dynasty which used force and violence to preserve its rule, she was distrusted by its subjects; as a Syrian, she was the object of prejudice; as a woman with power, she was resented. On the other hand, Domna was the centre of a literary circle considered highly significant by nineteenth-century admirers.

Barbara Levick is Emeritus Fellow and Tutor in Literae Humaniores at St Hilda's College, Oxford.