Roman women bore children not just for their husbands, but for the Roman state. This book is the first comprehensive study of the importance of
fecunditas
(human fertility) in Roman society, c. 100 BC - AD 300. Its focus is the cultural impact of
, from gendered assumptions about infertility, to the social capital children brought to a marriage, to the emperors’ exploitation of
to build and preserve dynasties. Using a rich range of source material - literary, juristic, epigraphic, numismatic - never before collected, it explores how the Romans shaped
into an essential female virtue.