All about Fulvia

An interesting feature in the war of Perugia was the role played by a woman: Fulvia. She was Marc Antony's wife. History left an intriguing image of her; according to Plutarch, "it was not enough for her to control any man, she meant to rule on a ruler and command a commander."

Fulvia was termed sly, thirsty after power, arrogant – basically, the opposite of an "ideal" Roman woman. According to rumors, she herself did maneuver in order to cause the war of Perugia. She in fact, in order to take her vengeance against her husband's bad manners, had made advances with Octavian; who anyway rejected them. Hurt and furious, Fulvia triggered the war by fomenting the antagonism between her husband, Marc Antony, and the man she would have liked to be her lover, Octavian.

The damnatio memoriae (deleting one's memory), the negative image History ascribes to Fulvia was surely due to her being so unlike a "standard" Roman lady, but it is also directly connected with the war of Perugia and the way in which it ended.

Marc Antony and Octavian eventually signed a peace treaty, that would be strengthened by the political wedding between Marc Antony and Octavia the Younger, Octavian's sister. Marc Antony had therefore to repudiate his first wife Fulvia, and the bellum Perusinum provided him with a handy reason to do so: to lay the blame on her for the war.

Fulvia's name can be clearly read on some "missile acorns," the small lead projectiles thrown by slings during the battles. They used to be carved with either incitements to war or insults against the enemies.