Fulvia & Benazir Bhutto

Powerful women are sometimes controversial women, and it can be difficult to sort out the true details of their lives.

- Regina Hansen

This is the case with Fulvia Flacca Bambula (died 40 b.c.e.) and the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan (died 2007 c.e.), two unusually strong women in their times.

Meet Fulvia

Fulvia lived during the last years of the Roman Republic. Contributing to the growth of her power were her marriages to three Roman politicians: first to Publius Clodius Pulcher; then to Caius Scribonius Curio; and, finally, and most important, to Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony). Antony had formed, with Marcus Lepidus and Octavian (who later became the first emperor of Rome with the title “Augustus”), the “Second Triumvirate,” the political alliance that ended the Republic and ushered in the era of the Roman Empire.

Fulvia worked to support Antony in every way, especially against his enemies. Her influence over him was often criticized, since Roman women were supposed to obey their husbands and were not allowed to hold political office. The Roman orator Cicero was an enemy of Antony and accused Fulvia of controlling him. Cicero even suggested that Fulvia was responsible for the deaths of her first two husbands.