Subject Area
History
Description
The history of the Roman Empire has thus far been largely dominated by male narratives. With ancient literary sources predominantly having been written by and for wealthy male audiences, a dangerously limited scope of the Roman Empire has been perpetuated as marginalized groups such as women have been left out of the historical record. Despite what mainstream history has been led to believe by authors such as Livy and Tacitus, Roman women were not simply one-dimensional, domestic creatures who acted as passive witnesses to male dominance. Rather, middle-elite women throughout the empire frequently existed outside the bounds of the domestic sphere and carved names for themselves within the public domain of Roman cities. This thesis project looks beyond the limited nature of Imperial Roman literary sources and turns to material evidence, including architectural remains, inscriptional texts, and honorific statues, to examine the public lives of middle-elite women in the first three centuries of the Roman Empire.
This project is divided into three chapters which respectively examine the public presence of women in Roman Spain, the Italian Peninsula, and Asia Minor. The work begins with an analysis of female-funded benefactions and patronage of cities in Roman Spain specifically within the Baetica and Tarraconensis regions. The second chapter addresses Eumachia and Mamia of Pompeii on the Italian Peninsula and proposes the intentional usage of traditional feminine virtues and Imperial ties within their benefactions to preemptively protect their public statuses. Finally, the third chapter discusses female-funded benefactions in Perge and Ephesus on ancient Asia Minor and examines how local eastern cultural pressures blended with Roman cultural expectations to create a unique opportunity for ambitious, middle-elite women in the public domain. Ultimately, this thesis attempts to redefine the modern perception of women in the Roman Empire by amplifying the abundant instances of female influence and power within the public sphere of cities throughout the Mediterranean.
Publisher
Providence College
Academic Year
2022-2023
Date
Spring 2023
Type
Thesis
Format
Text
Language
English
Included in
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Women's History Commons
