author

Alfred Brittain

1866–1943

An Episcopal clergyman who also wrote popular historical works, he explored the lives of women in the ancient world with an eye for both scholarship and storytelling. His best-known books include Roman Women and, with Mitchell Carroll, Women of Early Christianity.

2 Audiobooks

Women of Early Christianity

Women of Early Christianity

by Alfred Brittain, Mitchell Carroll

Roman Women

Roman Women

by Alfred Brittain

About the author

Born in 1866 and remembered as an Episcopal clergyman serving in New Jersey and New York, Alfred Brittain also built a reputation as a writer of accessible history. Sources consistently connect him with historical books focused on women in the ancient world, and give his lifespan as 1866–1943.

His best-known work is Roman Women, a study of women's lives in ancient Rome. Project Gutenberg and The Online Books Page also list Women of Early Christianity, which he wrote with Mitchell Carroll, showing his interest in bringing classical and early Christian history to general readers.

Brittain's surviving books suggest a clear, educational style aimed at curious non-specialists as much as scholars. Even with limited biographical detail available online, his work still stands out for making early history feel personal through the stories of women who are often left at the edges of older historical writing.