THE WORLD OF STATE
 |
 |
| Agrippina the Younger on a gold
coin (50-54 CE) |
Livia representing Pax on a gold
coin (20 CE) |
The world of the state, the field on which
men distinguished themselves in politics and on the battlefield, saw the
deepest divisions between gender roles. For women, to whom a political role in
the state and public self-expression were legally closed, honor was earned by
silently fulfilling the cultural ideal of matrona, producing citizens
and exemplifying the feminine virtues of chastity and modesty, strictures which
lower-class women experienced to a lesser degree. In no case were women
permitted to vote or to hold public office, with the exception of the Vestals,
whose virginity and care of the state hearth assured the public well-being.
However, history offers instances of women, individually or in groups, who
circumvented or transgressed these expectations, sometimes receiving
condemnation and punishment, as in the case of Tarpeia, and at other times
earning male encouragement and accommodation, as in the case of the women who
demonstrated against the Oppian Law of 215 BCE, which was repealed despite the
opposition of conservatives like Cato. For much of Republican history adult
women, considered weak and vulnerable, lived under a form of tutela, or guardianship, that
was provided all of their lives by their paterfamilias or husband, or,
in the absence of these, a male kinsman or surrogate. However, beginning with
the Second Punic war, conditions changed radically. Women whose husbands were
killed or away for long periods of time on campaign were left in control of the
home and family property. The expansion of empire that followed brought an
increase of wealth, some of which found its way into dowries. The deadly
struggles of the last century of the Republic, which implicated women as well
as men, and upper-class women's preference for marriage sine manu
(without the transfer of control from father to husband) brought about changed
attitudes toward women's capacities and greater tolerance for women's autonomy.
Augustan legislation in the late 1st century BCE, which was aimed at
strengthening the family and morals, removed citizen women who had borne at
least three children (for freedwomen at least four) from legal guardianship by
males. Augustus' wife Livia was publicly acclaimed and given special privileges
as a model of the traditional materfamilias while she assumed a new
public presence for women as benefactor and representative to the gods. Under
the Empire, women of the imperial family were frequently used to symbolize
civic virtues, were sometimes awarded state titles, and occasionally even
exercised real, though not legally sanctioned, power.
For further
information on this topic see the Companion
bibliography and Images of State below.
| Text-Commentaries |
Additional
Readings |
| Quintus Horatius Flaccus,
Carmina 3.6.17-32: corruption from
within |
See the Latin reader
The Worlds of Roman Women for the following
texts: |
| Honorary Inscription for
Marcia Aurelia Ceionia Demetrias: imperial
concubine |
Gaius, Institutiones
1.144-145, 148-150: tutela |
| Titus Livius,
Ab Urbe Condita I.34, 39, 41: Queen
Tanaquil |
T. Livius, Ab Urbe
Condita 1.39, 41 (excerpts): Tanaquil |
| C. Cornelius Tacitus,
Annales 1.3-6: Livia |
T. Livius, Ab Urbe
Condita 1.47-48 (excerpts): Tullia minor. |
| P. Vergilius Maro,
Aeneis
7.803-817: Camilla |
T. Livius, Ab Urbe
Condita 39.9-10 (excerpts): Hispala Faecenia |
| Titus Livius,
Ab Urbe Condita I.11.5-9: Tarpeia |
T. Livius, Ab Urbe
Condita 2.40: Veturia |
| C. Cornelius Tacitus,
Annales 14.34-5: Boudica |
P. Ovidius
Naso, Fasti 4.293-328, 343-344:
Claudia Quinta |
| Silius Italicus,
Punica 13.806-849: famous Roman women |
CIL 6.492,
Dedicatory Inscription on an Altar:
Claudia Syntyche |
| |
C. Sallustius Crispus,
Bellum Catilinae 24-25 (excerpts): Sempronia |
| |
C. Cornelius Tacitus,
Annales 1.33, 40, 69 (excerpts):
Agrippina maior |
| |
See De Feminis Romanis at Diotima for the following on-line Latin
texts: |
| |
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe
Condita I. 8-13:
Rape of the Sabine Women |
| |
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe
Condita I. 57-60: Rape of Lucretia |
| |
P. Ovidius Naso,
Metamorphoses VIII.51-66:
Scylla |
| |
C. Plinius Secundus, Maior,
Naturalis Historia 34.25-31: Statues of women |
REPUBLIC
- Roman She-Wolf (lupa) with
suckling twins Romulus and Remus. Silver didrachem. 269-6 BE. Vienna,
Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Rape of the
Sabine Women: Republican denarius issued by the moneyer L. Titurius
Sabinus; inscribed L[uci] TITVRI. Minted at Rome, 89 BCE. Rome, Museo
Massimo.
- Tarpeia (c. 750 BCE), legendary daughter
of the commander of the Capitol, Vestal?
- Denarius
showing her crushed by the shields of the invading Sabines. Inscribed: L[uci]
TITVRI (moneyer L. Titurius Sabinus) minted at Rome, 89 BCE. Rome, Museo
Massimo.
- Denarius
(reverse) issued by Augustus. She holds up her hands in fright, covered in
Sabine shields to her waist. The inscription commemorates the moneyer P.
Petronius Turpilianus, triumvir of the Augustan mint, whose family claimed
descent from the Sabines. Minted at Rome, 19 BCE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Fulvia (80-40 BCE), wife of Publius
Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio, and Mark Antony
- Coin
portrait on an aureus in the guise of winged Victory (similar to
portraits of her that appeared on coins from Eumachia, a Phrygian city of which
she was patron); issued by the moneyer C. Numonius Vaala. Minted at Rome, c. 41
BCE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Coin
portrait on a silver quinarius minted by Mark Antony at Lyons, c. 43-42
BCE. Winged Victory has the hairstyle and features of Antony's wife Fulvia.
Inscribed: III VIR R[ei] P[ublicae] C[onstituendae] (Triumvir for the
Regulation of the Republic). Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Portrait
head in marble; her features and hairstyle of side braids and bun
resemble the coin portraits above. Rome, late Republic. Copenhagen, Ny
Carlsberg Museum.
- Octavia (69 - 11 BCE), sister of
Augustus, wife of Mark Antony, mother of Marcellus (d. 40 BCE)
- Coin
portrait on an aureus of Antony with her characteristic hairdo. 38 BCE.
NY Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Portrait
head in marble (side).
Augustan Age. Rome, Palazzo Massimo.
- Coin
portrait in bronze of Octavia and Mark Antony; another
on a silver cistophorus minted by Antony in Ephesus, 39 BCE, inscribed:
M[arcus] ANTONIVS IMP[erator] CO[n]S[ul] DESIG[natus] ITER ET TERT[ius].
Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Cleopatra VII (69-30 BCE), Queen of
Egypt, wife of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony
- Portrait
head in marble with a melon hairstyle, bun at the neck and a broad
diadem perhaps with the uraeus in front (side
1,
side 2:
see coins minted at Ascalon and Alexandria). Roman, found at the Villa of the
Quintilii on the Via Appia. Rome, Gregoriano Profano, Vatican Museums.
- Coin portrait
on a silver coin of the young Cleopatra. 51-30 BCE. Oxford, Ashmolean.
- Coin
portrait on a silver tetradrachm of the young Cleopatra, shown in the
style of earlier Hellenistic queens, with a band-style diadem; she wears the
melon hairstyle. Minted at Ascalon, 50/49 BCE. London, British Museum.
- Coin
portrait on a bronze drachma minted by Cleopatra with a youthful head,
melon hairstyle and band-style diadem. Alexandria, 51-30 BCE. Glasgow,
Hunterian Museum.
- Coin
portrait in bronze issued by her in Cyprus c. 35 BCE, with her infant
Caesarion, claimed to be the son of Julius Caesar. London, British Museum.
- Coin portrait on a silver tetradrachm
issued by her with a Greek inscription: "Queen Cleopatra, Younger Goddess
(another in the Copenhagen National
Museum); Antony appears on the reverse with a Greek inscription:
"Antony Imperator for the third time and Triumvir". Minted c. 36-34 BCE,
possibly in Syria. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Coin
portrait on a denarius of Antony with a ship's prow in front,
inscribed: CLEOPATRAE REGINAE REGVM FILIORVM REGVM ("for Cleopatra, queen of
kings and of the sons of kings"). 34 BCE, Alexandria. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Coin
portrait on a denarius of Antony inscribed as above. 34 BCE,
Alexandria. Munich, Münzsammlung.
- Coin
portrait on a denarius of Mark Antony, wearing a band-style diadem; a
ship's prow appears in front of her, referring to her Egyptian fleet. 32 BCE.
Chciago, Art Institute.
- Coin
portrait in silver. Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Cameo
portrait with Antony in the Hellenistic style. Berlin, Altes
Museum.
- Full-size
statue allegedly found on the Via Cassia near the so-called "Tomba di
Nerone." Rome, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums.
EMPIRE: IMPERIAL WOMEN
- Livia Drusilla (58 BCE-29 CE), Julia
Augusta (14 CE), wife of Augustus, mother of Tiberius
- Gilded
glass gem: yoked (jugate) heads of Augustus and Livia. Roman, c. 5-14
CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Onyx
cameo: crowned Augusta (close-up)
holding the bust of the deified Augustus as priestess of his cult. Roman, after
14 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Portrait:
basalt head (side
view) with severe nodus hairstyle. Roman, last quarter of the
first century BCE. Paris, Louvre Museum.
- Portrait:
black marble head (side
view); the carved hair indicates it originally had a diadem, thus
dating it to the time of Claudius, who deified his grandmother. Roman, c. 50
CE. Amsterdam, Allard Pierson Museum.
- Veiled
and garlanded figure, probably Livia, standing beside Agrippa on the Ara Pacis.
Rome, 13 BCE.
- Statue:
life-size (close-up),
with attributes of Ceres (floral crown, wheat sheaves, cornucopia). Roman,
Tiberian era. Paris, Louvre Museum.
- Coin
portrait (brass dupondius) of Claudius, with Livia (deified in 41 CE)
as Ceres (close-up),
seated on a throne holding ears of grain and a torch. Roman, 41-50 CE. Vienna,
Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Julia (39 BCE-15 CE), daughter of
Augustus and Scribonia, wife of Tiberius
- Coin
portrait celebrating her as mother of Gaius and Lucius, both adopted by
Augustus; above Julia's head the laurel crown signifies her special role in the
dynastic succession (coin of Augustus 13 BCE). Berlin,
Pergamon Museum. (another,
Copenhagen National Museum)
- Goddess
Diana (see quiver on her shoulder) with the face of Julia (coin of Augustus, 13 BCE). Berlin,
Pergamon Museum.
- Portrait
of a woman resembling Julia in a wig with the nodus hairstyle, adopted
by Livia and imposed on Julia as well. Side view. Late first century BCE.
Rome, Montemartini Museum.
- Agrippina I (14 BCE-33 CE), daughter of
Agrippa and Julia, wife of Germanicus, mother of Caligula
- Portrait bust on a bronze sestertius
of Caligula, inscribed: AGRIPPINA M[arci] F[ilia] MAT[er] C[aii] CAESARIS
AUGUSTI. Rome, 37-41 CE. Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Antonia Minor (36 BCE-37 CE), younger
daughter of Octavia and Mark Antony, mother of Claudius, grandmother of
Caligula
- Portrait
head in marble as a young girl (right,
left).
Augustan Age. Rome, Palazzo Massimo.
- Full-size statue in marble showing her
crowned, holding a scroll (?), carrying a cornucopia and depicted as a 5th
century BCE Hera. From the theater in Falerii, mid 1st century CE. Berlin,
Pergamon Museum.
- Cameo
portrait possibly of the mother of Claudius. Julio-Claudian period.
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts.
- Detail
from the Ara Pacis: possibly Antonia minor and Drusus. 13 BCE. Rome.
- Livilla, daughter of Antonia and Drusus
(Livia's son), wife of Tiberius' son Drusus
- Cameo
portrait commemorating Livilla as Ceres upon the birth of her twin
sons. She wears fillet and a wreath of grain, celebrating her fertility; one
infant holds a cornucopia. Roman, 19 CE. Berlin, Altes Museum.
- Valeria Messalina (20-48 CE), a
descendant of Octavia and Augustus, wife of Claudius
- Agrippina II (15-59 CE ), eldest
daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina I, sister of Caligula, wife of Claudius,
mother of Nero
- Mother
and son in marble: the facial features and hairstyles identify them as
Agrippina the Younger (detail)
and her son Nero, wearing a toga and bulla. Roman, 1st century CE. Rome,
Capitoline Museums (Palazzo Nuovo).
- Aureus
with the wreathed head of his wife, the reverse of a gold coin minted by the
Emperor Claudius. 50-54 CE. Rome, Museo Massimo.
- Marble
bust of the empress, wearing a crown. Rome, mid 1 century CE. Oxford,
Ashmolean Museum.
- Cameo
portrait (sardonyx). Roman, 57-59 CE . London, British Museum.
- Statue
in marble of the empress as a goddess. From the Roman theater in Caere. Vatican
Museum.
- Claudia Octavia (c. 40-62 CE), daughter
of Claudius and Messalina, wife of Nero
- Cameo portrait with the young Nero,
perhaps newly wedded (note the clear strap marks of Octavia's stola). Roman,
Julio-Claudian. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts.
- Poppaea Sabina (31?-65 CE), wife of Nero
- Portrait
bust in marble. Roman, c. 54-68 CE. Rome, Museo Massimo.
- Marcia Furnilla (45- ? CE), second wife
of Titus
- Nude
statue, marble, in guise of Venus, with portrait head and elaborate
hair arrangement (detail).
Trajanic era. Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Portrait
bust in marble, with elaborate hair arrangement and wearing a draped
chiton (side).
Late Flavian. Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Julia Flavia (65-c. 91 CE), daughter of
Titus and Marcia Furnilla
- Domitia Longina (? - c. 140 CE), wife of
Domitian
- Portrait
head in marble. Elaborate hair arrangement with diadem. c. 96-110 CE.
Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Pompeia Plotina (? - 121 CE), wife of
Trajan
- Coin
portraits of the divinized Plotina and Trajan on the reverse of an
aureus issued by Hadrian, inscribed: DIVIS PARENTIBVS ("for his deified
parents"). Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Coin
portrait on the reverse of a sestertius of Trajan, with her
characteristic diademed hairstyle; inscribed: PLOTINA AVG[usta] IMP[eratoris]
TRAIANI. 112-117 CE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Coin
portrait on the reverse of an aureus of Trajan, inscribed: PLOTINA
AVG[usta] IMP[eratoris] TRAIANI. 112-117 CE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme
(Capitoline Museums).
- Portrait
in marble. 98-117 CE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Cameo
portrait in profile of Plotinus and Trajan. c. 105-115 CE. London,
British Museum.
- Marciana (? -112 CE), sister of Trajan
- Portrait
head of Luna marble. From the Baths at Porta Marina. 2nd century CE.
Ostia: Museum.
- Matidia (68-119 CE), daughter of
Marciana, niece of Trajan
- Sabina (87/8-136/7 CE), daughter of
Matidia, grand-niece of Trajan, wife of Hadrian
- Full-size statue of marble portraying
her cloaked and modestly wearing the stola of the married woman (now
returned to Italy); veiled head with a Hercules knot
braid. Roman, c. 136 CE. Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
- Bust of
marble with crowned head (deified?) and hair arranged like the goddess Diana
(left
side; right
side). 130-140 CE. Rome, Capitoline Museums.
- Coin
portrait on a gold aureus of Hadrian, inscribed SABINA AVGVSTA. 134 CE.
Chicago Fine Arts Museum.
- Marble bust
showing details of her coiffure.
Roman 130-40 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Coin
portrait on a brass medallion inscribed: SABINA AVGVSTA. Roman 117-30
CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Marble relief of the apotheosis of
Sabina who ascends to heaven on the shoulders of a Nike as Hadrian assists at
the funeral pyre. From Arco di Portogallo. 2nd century CE. Rome, Palazzo dei
Conservatori.
- Faustina I (c. 94-141 CE), wife of
Antoninus Pius
- Wedding
coin in silver, commemorating the wedding (iunctio dextrarum) of
Faustina I and Antoninus Pius. Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Coin
portrait on a brass medallion inscribed: DIVA AVGVSTA FAVSTINA (deified
after her death). Roman, c. 138-141 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Coin portrait on a gold aureus;
inscription: DIVA FAVSTINA. Rome, 141 CE. NY Metropolitan Museum of Art; another
in Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Apotheosis
in marble relief of Faustina and Antoninus Pius (replica). Mainz,
Landesmuseum.
- Portrait
bust in marble. 1st century CE. Rome, Palazzo Nuovo (Capitoline
Museums).
- Faustina II (c. 129-175 CE), daughter of
Antoninus Pius and Faustina I, wife of Marcus Aurelius
- Marble
bust. Roman mid-2nd century CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Coin
portrait on a bronze sestertius, inscribed: FAVSTINAE AVG[ustae] PII
AVG[usti] FIL[iae]. Roman, c. 145 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Coin
portrait on an aureus, inscribed: FAVSTINAE AVG[ustae] PII AVG[usti]
FIL[iae]. Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Wedding
coin, an aureus commemorating the wedding (iunctio dextrarum
with Juno ? as pronuba between them) of Faustina II and Marcus Aurelius.
Inscribed: VOTA PVBLICA. Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Coin
showing empress as Juno Regina on a sestertius, holding a patera and scepter,
with a peacock at her feet. Mint of Rome, 161-175 CE. Berlin, Pergamon
Museum.
- Portrait
bust in marble. Capitoline Museums: Palazzo Nuovo, Rome.
- Lucilla (148-182 CE), daughter of Marcus
Aurelius and Faustina the Younger, wife of the co-emperor Lucius Verus
- Statue of
marble, full-size, veiled. 161-9 CE. Rome, Capitoline Museums.
- Coin
portrait on a sestertius inscribed: LVCILLAE AVG[ustae]ANTONINI
AVG[usti] F[ilia]. Rome, 164-166 CE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Crispina (?-187? CE), wife of Commodus
- Portrait
head of marble (side).
180-187 CE. Rome, Capitoline Museums.
- Portrait
bust in marble (side). c.
180 CE. Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Full-size
statue in marble, as the goddess Ceres (the face resembles Crispina),
holding an ear of corn and poppies in her left hand, wearing a Greek chiton and
himation (angle).
180-190 CE. Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Manlia Scantilla (2nd century CE), wife
of Didius Julianus
- Coin portrait on an aureus, inscribed: MANL[ia]
SCANTILLA AVG[usta]. Rome, 193 CE. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Julia Domna (c. 170 -218 CE), Mater
Castrorum (211 CE), wife of Septimius Severus, mother of Caracalla and Geta
- Portrait
head in marble with frontal view of her distinctive hairdo. c. 195 CE
Munich, Glyptothek.
- Portrait
head in marble with side view of her distinctive hairdo. Aalen,
Limesmuseum.
- Full-size
statue in marble, in the guise of Ceres holding fruit in her left hand.
Early 3rd century CE. Ostia Museum.
- Pudicitia, the female virtue of
modesty, is portrayed on the reverse of a denarius of Julia Domna containing on
the obverse a portrait of the empress with the inscription IVLIA AVGVSTA. Here
the goddess is seated, holding in her left hand a scepter, her right hand
modestly covering her breast. 207-209 CE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Coin
portrait on an aureus of Septimius Severus inscribed: IVLIA DOMNA
AVG[usta]. 193-96 CE. Rome, Museo Massimo.
- Coin portrait on an aureus, inscribed:
IVLIA DOMNA AVG[usta] Rome, 193-6 CE. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Plautilla (2nd - 3rd century CE), wife
of Caracalla.
- Coin portrait on a silver denarius,
inscribed: PLAVTILLAE AUGVSTAE. Rome, 202-5 CE. NY Metropolitan Museum of
Art.
- Julia Aquilia Severa (3rd century CE),
Vestal, wife of Elagabalus (220 CE)
- Head of
marble. Highly veristic portrait. The torso is probably not original. c.
220-222 CE. New York: Fordham University Collection.
- Julia Mamaea (?-235 CE), younger
daughter of Julia Maesa, regent and mother of Septimius Severus
- Coin
portrait on an orichalcum sestertius of Septimius Severus, inscribed
(partially worn): IVLIA MAMAEA AVGVSTA. Rome, 222-35 CE. NY: Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
- Bronze medal
portraying the empress on a throne, with an attendant nearby;
inscribed: MATR(IS?) AUGUSTI ET CASTRORUM. 224-235 CE. Berlin, Charlottenburg
Museum.
- Fausta (289/290-324/325 CE), daughter of
Maximian and Eutropia, wife of Constantine I
- Coin portrait on a gold solidus,
inscribed: FLAV[ia] MAX[ima] FAVSTA AVG[usta]. Ticinum, 324/5 CE. NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Helena (?-327 CE), mother of Constantine
I
- Coin
portrait on a bronze nummus, inscribed: FL[avia] HELENA AVGVSTA.
Cyzicus, 324/5 CE. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
EMPIRE
- War
Captives: Relief cast of a scene from the marble column of Trajan in
which women and children beg submission from the emperor. Rome, c. 108-113 CE.
EUR, Museum of Roman Civilization.
- Female
Mask, perhaps of an Amazon, bronze (smaller version). Masks like these were worn by cavalry
soldiers in parades. Found on a skeleton's face in a tomb at Nola, So. Italy, 2
century CE. London, British Museum.
- Epitaph
for Agrippina I on a large marble block probably from Augustus' mausoleum,
where her son Caligula, when he became emperor in 37 CE, had her ashes
transferred from Pandateria where she was exiled and starved herself to death
in 33 CE. Inscription: OSSA/ AGRIPPINAE M[ARCI] AGRIPPAE/ DIVI AVG[usti] NEPTIS
VXORIS/ GERMANICI CAESARIS/ MATRIS C[aii] CAESARIS AVG[usti]/ GERMANICI
PRINCIPIS (CIL 6.886). A cavity (not visible) on top once held the urn
with her ashes. Rome: Museo Nuovo, Palazzo dei Conservatori.
All images are courtesy of the
VRoma Project's Image Archive.
Ann R. Raia and
Judith Lynn Sebesta
