it’s no accident that I started rewatching I Claudius last month; this sprawling, award-winning BBC production of Robert Graves's 1934 novel is a masterclass in how women (or in this story’s framework) a woman discreetly, covertly, pulled all of the levers in Rome—and with deadly effect—changing the landscape of the imperial empire drastically, and its parade of emperors. Her go-to strategy is what most women (unless they’re Artemisia Gentileschi) resort to—poison. (Hint.) 😉

woodruff.substack.com/p…