Hidden lives, public personae : women and civic life in the Roman West

649 Pages·2015·8.22 MB·English

by  Hemelrijk

Hidden Lives, Public Personae

Hidden Lives, Public
Personae
Women and Civic Life in the
Roman West
emily a. hemelrijk
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hemelrijk, Emily Ann, 1953-
Hidden lives, public personae : women and civic life in the Roman West /
Emily Hemelrijk.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-19-025188-8 (hardback)
1. Women—Rome—History. 2. Women—Italy—History—To 1500.
3. Women—Rome—Roman provinces—History. 4. Sex role—Rome—History.
5. Cities and towns—Rome—History. 6. City and town life—Rome—History.
7. Community life—Rome—History. 8. Rome—Social conditions.
9. Italy—Social conditions. 10. Roman provinces—Social conditions. I. Title.
HQ1136.H44 2015
305.409456'32—dc23 2015004430
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
CONTENTS
Preface vii
A Note on Translations ix
List of Figures and Plates xi
Abbreviations xv
Maps xix
Introduction 1
CHAPTER 1 A World Full of Cities 7
CHAPTER 2 Civic Priesthoods 37
CHAPTER 3 Civic Benefactresses 109
CHAPTER 4 Social Networks and Civic Associations 181
CHAPTER 5 Civic Patronage and ‘Motherhood’ of Cities
and Associations 227
CHAPTER 6 Female Presence: Public Honour and
Representation 271
Plates
Conclusion 339
Appendix: Tables to Chapters 2–6 345
Bibliography 571
Index 605

PREFACE
This book has been a long time in the making. The idea for the book was
born in 1996, when I read Riet van Bremen’s book on The Limits of Par-
ticipation. Women and Civic Life in the Greek East in the Hellenistic and Roman
Periods, but it was not until 2007 that I actually started working on it, thanks
to a ‘Vidi’ grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
(NWO). Riet’s magnificent work on women’s participation in civic life in the
Greek East kindled my curiosity to know more about women’s roles in civic
life in the Latin-speaking West. Compared with the Greek East, with its rich
variety of imaginative titles for women—such as gymnasiarchoi, agonothetai,
and stephanephoroi—women’s public functions in the West may seem rather
dull and repetitive. Their roles in this area can be briefly summed up as priest-
esses, benefactresses, and patronesses and ‘mothers’ of cities and collegia. Yet
on closer inspection, the inscriptions set up by, and for, these women give us a
glimpse of the rich variety of women’s opportunities and experiences in civic
life, which are neglected by the literary sources. Unlike most other studies of
Roman women, my focus is not on the well-studied women of the city of Rome
or of the imperial family, but on women of wealth and prominence in the
countless cities of Italy and the Latin-speaking provinces in the first three cen-
turies of the Empire, who have been largely neglected in modern scholarship.
This book should therefore be read as a complement (and a compliment) to
Riet van Bremen’s study of women in the Greek East and to our more extensive
knowledge of the women of the city of Rome and of the imperial family.
This work could not have been written without the support and encourage-
ment of others. First of all, I wish to express my thanks to the Netherlands
Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for funding the project, to Veerle
Gaspar and Cristina Murer who participated as PhD students, and to the staff
of the Fondation Hardt at Genève-Vandoeuvres for some wonderful weeks of
study. I also thank the audiences of papers presented in Amsterdam, Leiden,
Groningen, Berlin, Osnabrück, Heidelberg, Münster, Lille, Tampere, Rome,
Oxford, Birmingham, and New York and the participants of the conference on
Gender and the Roman City. Woman and Civic Life in the Latin West in Amsterdam
(December 2011) for their inspiring discussions and helpful comments. In
April 2014, Lena Larsson Lovén invited me for lectures about the project and a
month of undisturbed research at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden),
where I was warmly welcomed also by Gunhild Viden, Ida Östenberg, Agneta
Strömberg, and Helène Whittaker and enjoyed lively discussions with Linnea
Åshede, Jenny Högström Berntson, Erika Lindgren Liljenstolpe, and many
other PhD and MA students. I keep very good memories of the inspiring dis-
cussions with Josiah Osgood and other colleagues present at the seminar on
the Laudatio Turiae. My cordial thanks to all.
The book has benefited a great deal from the searchable online epigraphic
databases of Frankfurt and Heidelberg, which have made research on the basis
of inscriptions so much easier and more rewarding. Vincent Hunink went
through my translation of some of the long inscriptions in Chapter 5, suggest-
ing helpful improvements. My father read most of the book in its earlier stages;
his unceasing insistence on a simple style of writing greatly contributed to its
lucidity. I thank Maria Sherwood-Smith for correcting the English of several
chapters and Glenys Davies, Jane Fejfer, Daria Lanzuolo, and Tjarda Koster for
their help and advice in obtaining photos and permits. Special thanks are due
to Stefan Vranka and Heather Sieve of OUP for their unfailing and cheerful
guidance through the publication process. Finally, I dedicate this book in love
and gratitude to Sjoerd and to our growing family: Ruben and Tjarda with
Elena, Esther and Ido, and Daniël and Lotte.
October 2014
Emily A. Hemelrijk
University of Amsterdam
viii | Preface
A NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS
Translations from the literary sources are based on the works listed below.
Some of them are quoted unchanged, but most were modified. All other
translations are my own.
Dio, from Dio’s Roman History VII, trans. E. Cary, Loeb Classical Library,
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1968.
Historia Augusta, from Scriptores Historiae Augustae II and III, trans.
D. Magie, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP,
1967/1968.
Livy, from Livy, History of Rome IX, trans. E. T. Sage, Loeb Classical
Library, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1935.
Ovidius Amores, from Ovid I, Heroides and Amores, trans. G. Showerman,
2nd edition revised by G. P. Goold, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard UP, 1986.
Pliny the Younger, from Pliny Letters I, trans. B. Radice, Loeb Classical
Library, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1969.
Plinius Maior Naturalis Historia, from Pliny, Natural History X, trans. D. E.
Eichholz, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1971.
Statius Silvae, from Statius I, trans. J. H. Mozley, Loeb Classical Library,
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1982.
Suetonius Augustus, from Suetonius I, trans. J. C. Rolfe, Loeb Classical
Library, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1989.
Tertullian ad uxorem, de monogamia, ad nations, from Roberts, A. and
Donaldson, J. (eds.) (1869) The Ante-Nicene Christian Library:
Translations of the Fathers down to A.D. 325, vol. 11: The Writings of
Tertullian, vol. 1 (1869) and vol. 18: The Writings of Tertullian, vol. III
(1870).