By Jenny Williamson of Ancient History Fangirl
Ancient Rome during the Republic period didn’t have queens (or kings for that matter). Democracy was their big thing (never mind that their version left a lot of people out). But even in a political system set up to force even the power-hungriest to share power, some people came to have outsized control—long before Julius Caesar broke the system. One of those people was a woman: Fulvia.
Fulvia was married to Marc Antony: the guy infamous for his steamy affair with Cleopatra. And Fulvia was just as epic as Cleopatra was, in a different way. She was a gangster, general and total badass you did not want to cross.
During the late Roman Republic—Julius Caesar’s time—there was no police force in the city of Rome. Gangs took to the streets in support of politicians and causes they supported. Things could get violent, too. Politicians were sometimes shouted down in the senate house and even beaten to death in the street by angry mobs. Going to work as a politician in ancient Rome could mean taking your life in your hands.
This was Fulvia’s political element.
Fulvia was born in approximately 83 BC (the dates are fuzzy) and married a man named Clodius at about the age of 21. Fulvia was ambitious, with a populist streak. But as a woman in ancient Rome, she couldn’t wield power directly. She had to do it through her husband—and boy, did she ever.
People who knew Fulvia describe her as assertive and “masculine” – which was an insult if applied to a woman. Because the ancient world is the worst. Plutarch says “She was a woman who took no thought for spinning or housekeeping, nor would she deign to hold sway over a man of private station, but she wished to rule a ruler and command a commander.”
“She wished to rule a ruler and command a commander.”
— PLUTARCH (MAYBE NOT KNOWING WHAT AN AWESOME COMPLIMENT HE WAS GIVING)
Fulvia and her husband Clodius were both populists, with strong connections to the working class. And while some politicians in ancient Rome during this time could call up their own angry mobs to intimidate their rivals, Clodius and Fulvia elevated this to an art form. They built a massive gang empire in the city of Rome that they could summon whenever they needed to intimidate a rival into submission.
It’s probably accurate to say that while famous politicians were in charge of the big picture in Rome, the gangs were in control at the street and block level—and for a while, Fulvia and Clodius were in control of the gangs. And when Clodius died in a confrontation with another gang leader, after nine years of marriage to Fulvia, the gangs stayed loyal to her.
After that, Fulvia married history’s favorite fuckboy: Marc “Can’t Count Past Twelve” Antony.
So at this point, it was around 47 BC. Julius Caesar had fought a civil war for control of Rome against the general Pompey, and he’d won. Then he fucked off to Egypt for ten months and got himself roped into Cleopatra’s civil war. In the meantime, he left Marc Antony in charge in Rome, which went about as well as you’d expect.
Marc Antony was Caesar’s Master of the Horse while he was away. Antony spent his time having affairs with the wives of prominent Senators, riding around town in a chariot pulled by lions, and vomiting in the senate house after nights of wild partying. Fulvia apparently thought this was hot. These two married and rapidly became Rome’s leading power couple.
Julius Caesar was assassinated in 45 BC, and Marc Antony eventually emerged as Caesar’s unofficial heir. Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, gave his private papers to Marc Antony after her husband’s death, and together Antony and Fulvia used those papers as a pretext to force through any legislation they supported, claiming Caesar had supported it in these papers. (But also not letting anyone see them.) (seems legit)
During this time, Fulvia was a major power broker—auctioning off entire client kingdoms in Marc Antony’s living room, if you believe Cicero.
Antony might have been seen by many as Caesar’s unofficial heir, but Caesar also had an official heir—an 18-year-old grand-nephew named Octavian. Octavian and Antony didn’t get along very well, but they still joined up (along with a guy named Lepidus) to share power in Rome, forming what would become known as the Second Triumvirate. During this time, they visited bloody proscriptions on the city—brutally murdering many of their political enemies.
One of the casualties of the proscriptions was Cicero—a longtime enemy of Fulvia’s. It’s said that when Cicero was killed, his severed head was sent to Fulvia—and she stabbed his tongue with a golden hairpin in revenge for all the asshole things he said about her.
In 42 BC, Marc Antony left Rome to fight a battle with Caesar’s assassins. He left Lepidus officially in charge—but Fulvia was the real power in Rome. And this is where she clashed with Octavian, Caesar’s actual heir.
Octavian was in charge of distributing land grants to military veterans. Fulvia didn’t want him distributing that land—because she knew the Second Triumvirate was already unstable. If the legions saw that land flowed from Octavian, they’d side with him if Octavian and Antony split.
She wanted the land to flow from Antony—and her. Because that’s how you keep power. You have to keep the soldiers and military onside. She also noticed that there wasn’t a lot of unclaimed land lying around—if Octavian wanted to give land to veterans, he had to take it from working-class people. Her people. Fulvia was not on board with this.
Fulvia and Octavian clashed so violently that it came to war.
Roman women were not supposed to do what Fulvia did next. There were many powerful and influential women during the Roman Republic, but most of them wielded power with subtlety through the men in their lives. This is a rare moment in history when a Roman woman did not do that. Instead, she seized power directly and led an army into battle.
Fulvia and Octavian clashed at the town of Perusia on the northwestern coast of Italy. And while Fulvia was enduring a brutal siege on his behalf, Marc Antony was in Alexandria—with Cleopatra.
Marc Antony was noticeably silent while Fulvia was fighting for him to keep power in Rome. Some sources claim Fulvia embarrassed him (which we doubt because nothing could embarrass Marc Antony). Other sources believe that Antony was in a difficult spot: his own legions refused to fight against Octavian because he was Caesar’s heir. And he wasn’t quite ready to challenge Octavian directly.
After a long and bitter siege, Fulvia lost her war with Octavian. Only then did Marc Antony return from Alexandria. He was pissed—not at Octavian, but at Fulvia.
Nobody wrote down what he said to Fulvia, but it’s likely they had a massive fight. Then Antony went to go fight Octavian. He didn’t want to fight him—he didn’t think he was strong enough yet—and Octavian didn’t want to fight Antony either. But neither one could back down without losing face. Honor was at stake.
But just as the two men were about to fight a battle, they got word that Fulvia had died.
Sources are conflicted on how she died. Some claim she was struck down by an unknown illness. Others suggest she died of grief after Marc Antony yelled at her (editor’s note: I just rolled my eyes so hard I saw my brain). Either way, both Antony and Octavian seized on her death as an excuse not to fight. Both agreed that all this trouble was her fault, Marc Antony had never agreed to any of her actions, and now that she was dead, they could just forget the whole thing. Women, amirite??
Assholes.
Anyway. How Fulvia died was kind of lame (if you believe the ancient sources). But how she lived was absolutely epic. A charismatic gang leader and ferocious general who took absolutely no shit from anyone and would probably stab your tongue in your severed head if she caught you talking shit about her behind her back, Fulvia was an epic queen of Rome: both in the Senate and in the streets.
You can learn more about Fulvia and hear more from Jenny here:
- Ancient History Fangirl
- AHFG’s Fulvia episode
- Follow Ancient History Fangirl on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!