Professor at Oxford University, member of the British Academy, author of a number of studies on ancient history, John Percy Balsdon dedicated his book to the women of Ancient Rome. The history of Roman women is a centuries-old history of representatives of all strata of Roman society. Women never ruled Rome, but this does not mean that they did not participate in shaping imperial policy. The health of society depended on them, especially on their performance of priestly duties, for example, and the symbol of state morality were the Vestal Virgins, who guaranteed the economic prosperity of the country. The author covered a period of more than a thousand years, describing many women who were born in the Roman provinces and became part of Roman history.