The Background

Abstract This chapter sets the stage by sketching the political landscape of Rome in the mid-first century bce and laying out what can be known of Fulvia’s family. Attention is paid to the deepening divisions within Roman politics (equestrians vs. the senate, optimates vs. populists) and the formation of the so-called First Triumvirate. The chapter considers the possibility that Fulvia’s mother, Sempronia, is to be identified with the Catilinarian conspirator of the same name, and it addresses the question of whether Fulvia’s image appears on several Roman coins. The chapter describes what life was like for a young girl in an aristocratic Roman household and how Fulvia’s first marriage likely came about.