Matrona Docta is the first comprehensive study of the education of upper-class Roman women, and of their participation in the intellectual life of their times. Focusing on the period from the second century BC to AD 235, Emily Hemelrijk draws a vivid picture of the disadvantages and opportunities faced by these women, their activities as patronesses of literature and learning, and their achievements in writing prose and poetry of their own. The book also explores Roman perceptions of educated women and asks why a patriarchal elite bothered to educate its daughters.