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Companion is a compendium of un-adapted Latin texts, glossed and hyperlinked, by or about Roman women from all ranks and status groups, together with abundant illustrative images from the ancient world and brief essays that suggest the range of women´s activities, concerns, and social roles in ancient Rome. Beyond that it is a resource center supporting annotated print and digital bibliography entries on the topic of women, links to resources for enhancing the interpretation of texts, and shared materials for teaching about and the study of Roman women in Latin.
The On-Line Companion was conceived as a collaborative website in December 2005, designed to accompany the book The Worlds of Roman Women (henceforth WRW) published by Focus Press ( March 2005; ISBN 1-58510-130-3), the first intermediate/advanced Latin text-commentary on Roman women. In the anthology the co-authors offered a wide variety of primary sources in Latin by and about women, from the earliest periods through the second century CE, thus allowing students of any academic grade to experience different Latin styles and diverse genres. We included authors not normally read in undergraduate courses and less familiar materials (e.g., inscriptions) to allow the voices of the non-elite and marginal inhabitants of the Roman world to be heard. Our over-arching goal was to identify and contextualize Latin texts of various types by and about women for the enjoyment of entry-level Latinists who would encounter the book as a course text or as supplementary reading. However, our research and ambitions far exceeded the compass of any textbook, leaving us with a number of important selections that could not be included. We turned to electronic publication as a way to accommodate our growing appetite for new texts, images, hyperlinked aids, and 21st century pedagogy.
While the On-Line Companion may be used apart from WRW, the Focus text contains foundational essays that introduce principles of feminist classical studies, key themes, and the contexts for eight Worlds. In addition, with minimal exception, the 63 published selections have not been reproduced on the website (see WRW Table of Contents). Furthermore, the print text has the advantages of any book in that it can be carried about, annotated, bookmarked, and handily browsed without hardware. Those contemplating using The Worlds of Roman Women may wish to browse the following reviewer assessments and the handout for the panel "Giving the Floor to the Silent Women of Rome" (meeting of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States, October '06) :
N.B. A list of Corrigenda to The Worlds of Roman Women is available on line, pending the reprinting of the text.
It seems obvious to say it, but say it we must: in ancient Rome, women were everywhere, except in formal political meetings and the men´s baths (before you add “battlefields," consider Fulvia, Agrippina, and the ubiquitous camp followers). It requires saying because even today women are in great part absent from the Latin we study. When present they are rarely its focus, unless as examples of womanhood that are culturally appropriate (e.g., women who “know their place" like Lucretia and Cornelia) or unacceptable (e.g., women who reject traditional gender roles, such as Tullia Minor and Julia, Augustus' daughter). Since the closing decades of the 20th century, feminist classical scholars have been discovering Roman women by searching for them in ancient artifacts (e.g., coins, inscriptions), “minor" writings (letters, legal texts, fragments) and non-canonical writers (e.g., Statius, Gellius), and by using new theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches (see Companion Bibliography for McManus, 1997: 18-19). We are the beneficiaries of the original research and seminal publications of classicists such as Pomeroy, Foley, Hallett, Kampen, and Lefkowitz. Although Balme and Morwood´s On the Margin and Churchill, Brown, and Jeffrey´s Women Writing Latin include texts about women, those wishing to offer a Latin course on Roman women prior to the publication of WRW in 2005 had to rely for their sources mostly on web and text copying.
The Companion homepage shows the site divided into two major sections: Worlds in Text and Image is accessed by clicking on the word Worlds below the statue of the priestess on the right; Instructional Resources are accessed by clicking on the word Instruction beneath the statue of the mother and daughter on the left. The "Recent Additions" webpage has been added to show at a glance what's new in Worlds and Instruction; the page can be accessed by clicking directly on either of the two female statues.
I. The Worlds in Text and Image
This page contains a hyperlinked schema of all ten Worlds (Class and
Religion were added after the publication of WRW):
By scrolling to the bottom of the Worlds page you will come upon a link to the TextMap. All of the site's text-commentaries are listed on this page, arranged according to Worlds and labeled according to their level of difficulty: Easy (E), Medium (M), and Hard (H). Each World and text is hyperlinked, allowing you to browse, preview, and customize the order of selections for your own purposes. The selections are uniform in only one way: they concern or (rarely) are written by women. Otherwise they are highly varied: some are very brief (e.g., funerary inscriptions), some are fragmentary, some are quite long, some are in poetry, others in prose. The selections are identified with simple Latin tags that suggest their focus. Some texts are inscriptions on artifacts of a funerary, dedicatory, or honorary nature, appearing in stone, clay, silver, gold, bronze, or even in paint. Authors, genres and time periods vary widely, invoking conventions and expectations that affect meaning and demand thoughtful consideration and some research on the part of the reader for full understanding. For convenient reference the TextMap contains a link below each female statue in the frame to profiles of authors and profiles of women who appear in WRW and Companion; arranged alphabetically, each entry is briefly identified by accomplishments and date and keyed to text(s) and World(s).
Each World opens on an image of an ancient woman and a brief essay suggesting the nature and challenges of women´s lives in this World. Below the image and essay is a table: on the left are the hyperlinked Companion texts contained in this World; on the right, there is a column of WRW readings and links to glossed texts on other sites. Scrolling down to the bottom of each World Home Page is an image archive containing links to ancient artifacts and representations of Roman women appropriate to that World. For example, the archive in State contains portraits of leading women of the Republic and Empire, arranged chronologically. Clicking on the image link opens a small window containing the image (the window must be closed before you move to the next link).
Clicking on one of the text titles on the World page opens a new large window. The text page contains an image that illustrates the passage in some way, either directly by showing a view of the inscription or monument which is the source of the text, or indirectly by showing a woman or item connected in some way to the text. Next to the image is a brief paragraph with introductory information about the woman who is the subject of the text, the author or the work/artifact from which the selection was taken, and, frequently, links to information on other sites; for example, the meter of poetic texts is identified and linked to a display and explanation of the scansion. The introduction to the epitaph of Gnome Pierinis (Work), an ornatrix who lived during the mid-1st century CE, contains a link to a portrait bust of an elite Flavian woman whose fashionable elaborate hairstyle shows the need for at least one slave in her household to be an expert hairdresser.
Below the essay are the Latin texts, un-adapted except for punctuation
and the resolution of abbreviations (these appear within brackets), which are
added to clarify meaning, particularly in the case of inscriptions. When
hyperlinked words and phrases in the Latin text are clicked on, a small window
opens on the screen; it contains a dictionary entry of the word and a
context-sensitive definition with perhaps aids to translation (e.g., suggested
word order, brief translation hints, bracketed words that supply Latin that is
omitted or understood), stylistic observations, or links to a relevant site.
For example, clicking on a name that appears in the text may refer you to a
webpage explaining the Roman practice of
nomenclature. Some Latin passages contain small icons
(
) in the right
margin of the text which offer an illustration of the reference. For example,
the beside the
epitaph for Aurelia Nais (Work), who owned a fish shop near the
Horrea Galbana, takes you to a webpage about the Emporium, with images
of the warehouse area along the Tiber from the EUR model of Rome.
II. Instruction:
The
Instructional Resources portion of the site is intended to be highly
collaborative and to provide pedagogical support for the passages and images in
the Worlds. It contains an extensive selection of materials, divided
into categories, useful for teaching, research and translation (see
descriptions below):
Guide to Using the Site:
You are
here. Let us know what additional information would be helpful to you as you
navigate the site.
Annotated Bibliography:
The
bibliography contains a selection of print and on-line publications as well as
links to materials and other sites that were useful in the preparation of
Companion or that the authors consider valuable for the understanding
and/or teaching of the texts and images in Worlds. It is an expanded
version of the WRW bibliography, with the added advantage of
hyperlinking to on-line theses, essays, articles, reviews, images, and sites.
For example, an article on Plancia Magna is linked to her portrait statue in
the Ankara Museum and to a webpage on Perge. The bibliography, which at present
is only minimally annotated, invites volunteer contributions.
Syllabi and Lesson Plans:
This
section features college syllabi and high school lesson plans for the teaching
of Roman women in Latin or in translation. It, too, invites contributions by
those teaching courses or units on Roman women.
Activities for Classroom Use:
It is perhaps appropriate that there are comparatively few entries in this
category, many in the shape of suggestions (see handout for the presentation "A New Resource for
Studying Roman Women in Latin" at the meeting of the Southern Section of
The Classical Association of the
Middle West and South, November '06). The authors welcome colleague
participation in the creation of exercises and teaching materials for use with
this site.
Resources for Translation and
Interpretation:
In this section the authors have collected
dependable sites for resources that we know visitors to the On-Line
Companion will find both handy and instructive for comprehension of
Worlds entries, such as on-line dictionaries and grammars, maps,
timelines, relevant theme and cultural sites. It is our pedagogical bias that
intermediate-level students should be encouraged to read as much original Latin
as possible in order to master basic grammar and vocabulary and improve their
comprehension of the language; we have, therefore, been generous with our
guidance and in providing resources that will enable independent reading.
Credits, Contributors,
Collaborators:
This area contains name, contact information, and
credits for those contributing in some way to the development of the site. We
have been gratified to receive materials from high school and college
colleagues as well as graduate students and undergraduates, assisted by their
professors; we have been fortunate to receive excellent technical assistance.
The list of contributors is regularly updated as new volunteers submit their
work.
The Companion offers teachers and students a number of advantages:
At last we come to our Call for Collaborators and Contributors, addressed to Latin teachers at all levels and advanced Latin students. We wish not only to improve and expand the On-Line Companion, but to build a community of scholar-teachers who will borrow, critique, assess, and annotate materials as well as contribute their ideas, skills, and creative work.
We invite you to submit any and all of the following suggestions for additions to the site:
Please join us in furthering a project that is not only valuable for
Latin teaching and research but personally enjoyable, contributing as it does
to our professional and collegial development.
To make suggestions or to
volunteer contact either Ann R. Raia
(araia@cnr.edu) or Judith Lynn Sebesta
(JL.Sebesta@usd.edu).
The On-Line Companion is accessible on any browser, using any platform. For optimal viewing of the program, set your screen resolution to at least 1024 x 768. Since our text glosses and images are linked to smaller windows so that you can access aids and images while remaining on the text screen, you will need to have your browser set to enable Javascript (in I.E., go to the Tools menu, Internet Options, Advanced Tab; scroll down to the Java [Sun] section, check “Use JRE (requires restart),” hit Apply; then reboot your computer). If you do not have Javascript installed on your computer, you can download it for free here. Click the Download Now button. Select the Windows (Offline Installation) Download button, and Save the installation file (called something like “jre-1_5_0_08-windows-i586-p-s.exe” ) to your computer. Once it has downloaded, you can double-click the file to begin installation. Select Typical Setup, accept the License Agreement, and it will automatically install.
We take pleasure in announcing our indebtedness to Barbara McManus, for
whose expertise, talent, and generosity as On-Line Companion's web
designer, rigorous first reader, and many varied contributions we are deeply
grateful.
We would also like to express our appreciation for two particular
websites on whose free access to their excellent resources the On-Line
Companion has depended: Latin Library, for its digital texts, and
VRoma for its images.