Cornelia- the First Woman of Rome

The written history of the Roman Republic is nearly devoid of exceptional women. Among the few who are mentioned, Cornelia Scipionis stands out. Born to one of Rome’s most prestigious families, and the daughter of the general who defeated Hannibal, Cornelia is remembered as Rome’s first woman intellectual and as the ideal Roman mother.

Her sons, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, spent their lives trying to give greater voice to the common citizen in a governmental system dominated by the aristocracy. Each brother made huge, all but revolutionary, impacts on Roman politics, but Cornelia, as well as her daughter Sempronia, were also important players during the turbulent years of the late Republic. The tragic story of the Gracchi family represents a little known chapter in Roman history that begs to be retold because of its historical significance and how it reflects on current times.

Sempronia, the oldest child, narrates her family’s jourmey through the fifteen years of her brothers’ controversial political careers. Cornelia is revealed by her relationships with each of her children, either assisting her sons to navigate the extreme politics of Rome eighty years before the death of Caesar or helping Sempronia to cope with a serious disability compounded by an abusive marriage to the most powerful man in Rome. This poignant story of ancient Rome accents the strength of a middle-aged woman standing with her sons and her daughter against an increasingly brutal political regime.