UC Riverside

This thesis focuses on the thematic juxtaposition of imperial women with a range of emperors in the Historia Augusta. In particular, it focused on three women – Plotina, Faustina the Younger, and Julia Domna – who dominate the first group of lives in the Historia Augusta. This thesis will show how women function in the Historia Augusta as thematic devices that serve to question the rule of the emperor, particularly at the moment of his succession.