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')

ElRENE XXXllI, 1997.

81-95

Independent Women the Romao East:


WidO\-vs, Benefactresses,
Patronesses, Office-Ho]ders
KONSTANTINOS MANTAS
Athens

the last two decades, there has been a continuous


ofpub!ications
the .subject ofwomen antiquity, as a resuJt ofthe
offemmlsm
western Europe and
from a radical, semi-utopian freedom
to a 'respectable', semi-compromised part of the social and
cultural establishment. The shrinkage of other
for research is due to
the fact that nothiog, or almost nothing new, can be written about areas such
c!assica! Athens or slavery
antiquity, and Ihis may
as ciIizens
helped the
of this trend.'
Whereas there is

material for a proper study of women inthe
pre-Hellenistic world (which allows only for the study of imaginary women,
the larger-than-!ife heroines of mythology and drama) the late Hellenistic
and Roman imperial eras
the social historian with an epigrapbical
record which surprising!y, registers a number of \vomen acting as public
benefactresses and
officials. Also. a much larger number of women is
recorded
business.

dedicating statues or,
rare cases. actiog
the name of their children as guardians.

S. POMEROY started the trend


the mid-seventies with her book, Goddesses,

Antiquity (New York 1975). Other
Whores. Wives and Slaves. Women

the subject: D. SCAPS, Economic Rights of fVomen Ancient Greece
(EdInburgh 1979), FolEY (ed.). RejTections ofJVomen Antiquity (Ne'v York
1981), CAMERON - KUHRT (eds.), Jmages offVomen Antiquity (London 1983),
G.
(ed.),
Donne Grecia (Rome-Bari 1985), Se:m.UnPANOEl (ed.),
Hlstory ofWomen;n the West I(London 1992), S. POMEROY (ed.), Women 's History and Ancient History (London 1991). FANTHAM - FOLEY - BOYMElJ{AM- S.
POMEROY _ SHAPIRO (eds.). Women
the
JYorld (New
Y?rk-Oxford 1994). The
follo'... the convention set by

the exemption of JGR = lnscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pert;nentes.
1 See Ch. 3 of my doctoral thesis. Civic Dec/ine and Female Po ...;er: Women 's
Role
the Greek World under Roman Ru/e
University 1994). A1so see
81

"

1
KONSTANTINOS MANTAS
\
\

The first problem which arises concems the


ofthes.e women: did theyact theirownorunderthe tuteIage ofa male relative ora
stateappointedguardian? isawellknownfactthatbothGreekandRoman
lawimposed
women'seconomictransactionstherestrictionofaguardian'sapproval. This is the image projectedbycJassicaJ andHellenistic
scriptionsandof cOUIsebytheDigest. J NevertheJess,Augustus'demographicpolicyresulted the creationofthe ius trilIm /iberorum or

Greek,thegrantofemancipationfromguardianship foreveryfreebomwomanwho gave birthto three children, and forevery


whogavebirth fOUI.4 Thephrase is recordedwith pride byaristocratIc
women
thepriestessClaudiaDamostheneia RomanLaconia. S such
casesthough,theius trium /iberorum couldbegranted thepeoplewhodld

meet the law'srequirementsthroughpersonalpatronage. 6 Inscriptions


ftomvariousregions oftheRomanEastrecordalarge number

lowerclassstatuswho heldthe right ofthree children. Appia Pannychlsls


recordedas
amanumissioninscriptionfromseeondcenturyADBeroia,Macedonia. 7 theregionofLycia,the
used
the
denote \vomenofsuchstatuswas

The
aspectoftheproblemisthatanumberof\vomen
ftom thesameregion and in the sarneeraare recordedasacting\vithouta

butalso withoutreference the right ofthree children.For


Vlaste, daughterofHentimosand Armasta,daughterof

bothbeingwidows, freedwomen andparoikoi (= residentsofno
status)arerecordedasacting suchamanner;andtheothercharaCtensIlc

isthattheyJackRomancitizenshipas theabsence.of
a cognomen IndIcates. 9 Thistemptsthescholar createa theory whlch
thewornenofsomeregjonsoftheRomanempire,wholacked the
ofRoman
couJdactwithoutaguardian.And this is
R. VAN BREMEN, Women and Wea[th,
Cameron_ Kuhn (eds.), Images of
Antiquity(london1983), 223243,and
P/ancta Magna ofPerge, S. Pomeroy(ed.),Women's' HistoryandAncientHIstory(london 1991),
218248.
J See C.
Recherches sur [e mariage /0 condilion de /0 femme mariee
/
he//enIstIque
1970),especial1y
241254.
Roman Law and Society (London 1986),
1422.
sJ. GARDNER, Women
J. S.SPAWFORTH, Fami/ies RQman Sparta and Epidaurus BSA80(1985),
234.
'


6 See
men;ary (Ox.ford 1966),

82

690.

The Let1ers of

Historica/ and Socia/ Com-



(1916),
at thecityofTermessos,Nos383,482,669,705,714.
11.1, atTennessos,Nos284and384,respective1y.

ORLANOOS,

147.

&

INDEPENDENTWOMEN

ROMANEAST

bythefact that someareasofGreecesuchasEpirusandThessaly,women acted without a guardian tTom as earJy as the third century
The prob is
lem is that again there are exceptions: AureIia Eutychia a citizen of
recorded as having bought a tomb for herseIf, her husband and her threptoi. 11
She is a Roman citizen but she has neither a guardian
the right of the
three children. Similar examples are recorded in Telmessos and Cadyba. I2
second probIem \vhich arises is the effect that
had
the ecothat antiquity the vast

nomic independence of women.


ofwomen got
their earIy teens, is tempting speculate that they
enJoyed economic independence onIy as widows. Of course, theory, a
Slli illris could keep her own property separate from
Roman woman
her husband's, but the idea that the husband was a quasi-owner of h.is wife's
property was still cunent especially the texts of moraJists such as PJutarch. 1J This ideal of joint marital ownership of property is demonstrated by
amount of
recording
couples as co-dedithe
arch-priest and
cators co-benefactors: Hierocles son of

thrice gymnasiarchos and son ofthe city, and his wife Aris
\vho shared the
of
constructed a ba/aneion
(== bath) in Ceramus,
Aurelia Artemis was ktistria (= founder) ofthe
gynmasiurn at Termessos Lycia as well as co-funder of other public projects
record!ogether with her husband. 15 considerable arnount of
wives as co-benefactors \Vith their husbands comes tTom second century
AD Ephesos: "The representation of \vomen
bui/ding projects
Ephesos during the
Roman empire took two forms. the first. wllich
Was the more common,from the reign ofthe emperor Augustus
the /ate

century AD, \vomen were portrayed inscriptions throIlghout the

as
part the construction, dedica/ion and reslora/ion ofblIi/d ofAsia itse/f. "16
lngs. exp/icit/y as the \IIiVes, and daIlghters ofma/e

See BABAKOS,
im a/tthessa/ischen Recht 3. JJI.
-4. Jh.
ZSS 79 (1962), 311-322.
1i
11, 990, at OIympus.

11, Nos 70 and 752.
14 See S. TREGGIARJ, Roman
(Oxford
365. .
.

JHS 11 (1890), 126. See also appendix my thesls. SometImes the \vIfe \\'.as
reaI manager of her husband's property. According
the sophIst
.
.the ThessaJian gave up the chair of rhetonc at
because of the


\vife and his property; his
was an energetIc
and the

ofhIs property



oftJle
618.
16
111, 122.
S
G. ROGER.S, The Construcfion oJtYomen Ephesos,
90 (1992), 217.
ee aIso tbe appendices of my doctoral thesis,

and Fema/e

10

11.

83

11
i

.1-:

. ,
"

1 .

"

KONSTANTINOSMANTAS
Other inscriptionsreveal that womenwithRomancitizenship from Greek
guardian, when
regionshad havetheirhusband'sconsent as a de
engaging economic transactions. Forinstance,whenJulia Eudiadedicated Asclepius fourteen plethra of vineyard her husband's consent was re he is not called her guardian.
corded,
Even more problematic is the subject of dowry. According

"During the marriage, as Cicero said,


be/onged the hIIsband. This
remains the view olthe c/assica/jItrists. Late c/assica/jurists tended stress
that dowry was on/y temporarily the husband's possession lor the duration the marriage, and a/ways potentially rec/aimab/e. "18
Ancient fiction as well as the epigraphic sources present different facets
ofthe problem: Egger mentions that there is reference legal guardians ofadult women the ancient romances and that "indications shared

property are lound severa/ couples' agI'eements, IIsually
]avor the bride ".19 W. Calder comments one Galatian

which Diogneta, daughter ofTektomaros, set


her husband's tomb with
money from her pecu/ium. According to him, the pecu/ium belonged to the


He refers to another
from the border of Phrygia and Pisidia, which a woman, Aurelia Ammia, set a statue of her husband from
ber own dowry,

and he conciudes that ''Ammia

Anabura disposes h er
during the /ifetime her husband ''.2\
another Galatian
epitaph, a husband sets
a curse

the unknown person who exploited hiswife's trust and did not give back the
and the two silver bracelets, which were part of her
green woollen
mentions that
dowry.U S. Mitchell, his commentary the
Statilias' dowry became the possession ofher husband only after her death. 23

New Ro/e Ihe Greek Wor/d under Roman Ru/e (Bristo1 1994), for women as Jolnt officials benefactors with their husbands sons. Also see

Lives o[the Sophists, 23, which the sophist Damianus of Ephesos dedicated a
portico
his wife's
name, second century
17


south Pe10ponnese,lG VZ, Nos 269, 270. According the law of
.
BIthynIa a W1fe was permitted enter
a
without the consent of her
husband adu\t 50n, Gaius, i. 193.
:: S. TREGGIARI, Roman
325-326.
.. EGGER, Women and
Ihe Greek Nove/s: The
Romance, J.
(ed.), The Search for the Ancient Nove1 (Baltimore - London
1994), 268.
: W.
U/pian and Ga/aIian /nscription, CR 37 (1923), 10.
W. CAWER, cit., 10.
n S. MffCHELL, Regiona/ Epigraphic Cata/ogues Asia Minor l! (Oxford 1982),
242, 201.
S. MffCHELL, cit., 202.

INDEPENDENTWOMEN

ROMANEAST

otherwords, thehusbandbecamefull ownerofhiswife'sdowry onlyafter her death, although we find another


a wife's pecIIlium iS
be confiscated due her husband's debts. 24
So then, the relatively Jarge number of women magistrates or benefactresses who are usually recorded as baving paid through their
funds for
liturgies and
benefactions raise a problem: how did they manage
accwnulate such wealth, and how they could spend without being
ed by male relatives? Both R. Van Bremen and

bave mentioned Ihis


problem, but they do not pursue systemati
Women antiquity could survive economically
their own, workmg a smaIl number of low-paid jobs or Ihey could even creaIe fTom their
own work, a small estate,26 but Ihey could become \vealthy onIy Ihrough

Iheir father's property or through marriage. Unfortunately. mosI

do
specify the status of the female honourands. a very fe\v
cases, we can be sure that the lady liturgist or benefactress \vas a widow: the
benefactress Ata1anta who donated wheat for distribution among the citizens
of the Lycian city of Terrnessos, was a widow,
Tbe \veIl-known
Menodora of Sillyon, a woman who held a
of religious and civic offices second century AD SiIIyon, Pamphylia, was botb a \vidow and an
child. 28 Nevertheless, the
of the female donors and /iturgists

to have been
(there are a few young girls whose liturgies

pald by their parents) there is concrete evidence that tbey were wldOws at the time of their donations or liturgies. True, a female heir \vas
a
frequent phenomenon, but if a wealthy man had onJy daughters one of them
had to be his heir and, under Roman law, heiress was liable pay munera
for her city, although as Abbott and Chester-Johnson observed, a \voman
a citizen
city was under obJigation 10perfonn the
who

patrimoniorum. 29 Notwithstanding
she
a man from

l.I R.

Lydia, SEG 35 (\985),

BREMEN, Women and Wealth,

1267.

Cameron - Kuhrt (eds.), Images

\Vomen Antiquity (London \ 983), 230. AGLIAFERRo-B.OA


IGHT, Plan MagnaofPerge: Women'sRolesandStatus RomanAsia
S. Pomeroy (ed.), \Vomen's History and Ancient History (London 199\), 256-257.
16
for instance an

Beroia,
which an o/d woman
who sels
her fema1e slave is given Ihe
10
money


of her property by her brolhers, \vho polilely decline 10 help and

wam her Ihat Ihe manumission ofa slave who could be a help 01d
age a good idea, SEG 30 (1980),
590, 181 AD.
18

62, line 3.
See R. V BREMEN Familyfrom Sill}'on,
104 (1994), 43-56.
19 F. F.
_ CHESTER ]OHNSON, MunicipalAdmintitration the Roman
Empire (princeton 1926), 97.

85
1

.........

KONSTANTINOSMANTAS

!
,

thcsamecity,she\vas stiIIobliged perfonnherpublicduties, her


name: Syntyche daughterofHegeus set the
ofTychewhich \vas
promisedby her fatherin the tenureofhis stephanephorate; thesettingup
ofthc inscription \V:1S
byherhusband, Antiochus

former Pontarch left hisdaughter as heir his line and to carry


hts
financial
the city. Althoughthis \voman wasawife andmotherof
ayoungboy wassheand herhusbandwho
herfather'swealth
andsubsequenteconomicobligations the city.JI Itis also interestingthat
these exceptional\vomen, were honouredmostly as daughters oftheir fathers: in most
the emphasis is the women's ancestry:

L. Migeotte stresses the empha Atalanta's following her ancestors' policy towards the City.H
.

sis

Of great interest is a story incorporated in Constantine

De adminis/rando imperio, the story of Gicia, daughter of a prominent cJtJzen of Chersonesus. Although Constantine \vas a Byzantine emperor of
tenth century
the story due to its general atmosphere must be placed
the pagan, pre-Byz.antine era: "On /he con/rary.les/ivi/ies \vi/h dancing and
singing. and Gicia's \I'ish be buried \vithin /he
ye/ church
(the p/ace mos/ honor10r /he buria/ Christian). attest more strong/y
/ime paganism. "36 Gicia, after her father's death decided ask the leading men of the city, consent her organising a
banquet \vith distri meat, and bread an annual basis commemorate her
butions
father. 31 Her husband simply congratulated her her

and consented rejoice and pour libations. 38 He had an another intention, ho\vever.
Minoa, Amorgos ca. 185 AD, /G
243 .
115, al
somc regions the public
\VCrc h.e
for the femalc lrnc: Phtltscus the Thessa\ian was summoned perform l1tuTgIC:s by Hcordacan Maccdonians \vhose cusloms was elect liturgists form thc
sons
fcma!c citizcns, Li"es ofthe Sophists, 622. See also
11, 905,

G. 7580, In, whIc.h


the fi1mous bcnefactor is rewarded as being gymnasIarchos thrcc ttmcs hrs mother's

:: C/G,
4367c, at
Lycia.
J< BCH 16 (1892), 421 at Pogla, Pisidia.


at Thyatira, Lydia.
JI
MIGE01TE, EmprIInt pub/ic dans Ies cites
(Quebec _
1984),
)38.
J' V.

The Coinage
/V Cenrury BC
Cen/ury

(Oxford 1980), 70.


HC
PORPH....
De administrando imperio 258Be-/98
Jt Tbid. 198.
10

. /GR 111,

86

INDEPENDENTWOMEN

ROI\IANEAST

use his wife's banquet order seizethe city bytrickery. (Hc \'vas Ihc
sonofa leading man from the hostile cityofBosporusand his marriageto
Gicia\vaspartofa reconciliationscheme.)Theinterestingaspectoftlle story isthatthelady questionpresidesoverthebanquet,\vasallo\ved drink
wineliberalIyand, afterdestroyingherhusband's Ireacberousplan, \vas re'oVarded byseIIingup
herhonourandthepromiseofbeingburied
the middleofthecity.J9 Gicia'sattachment herfatherland was grealer
thanthatofherhusband. Shewas,aboveall, the daughterofherfatherand
his city.
Widowhood,\vhilebeingaperilousstate lowerclass\vomen,provid
\vomenwiththeopportunity escapefromthedefac/o restric them bythepresenceofa husband. Melitte, the

tlons imposed
\vidow AchillesTatius Romance, C1eitophonand Leucippe, managesher
property alone and travels from Ephesos Alexandriawhereshe finds an-
?therhusband. 40 Nevertheless,hernewhusband,Cleitophonis characterised
anotherpassage ofthenovel as herlord andmaster,which implies that
4I
end of\vidowhood thewomen again undera kind oftuteJage. The
wldow cou1d sometimesbecomethe sole heirofher husband 'sproperty:
MarcianedaugbterofMarcellus,\vifeandheirof GaiusHeliophon,fulfilled
herhusband's promise the cityofAmastris,byset1ing a statue ofthe
emperor Antoninus PiOUS. 42 Anotherwidow, who is recordedas herhus-
J
band'sheir, \vas Ammia daughterofZoilus Serres, Macedonia: Oneof
earlierexamplesisthat ofMegiste,daughterofApollodorus, \vh? was
herrofherhusband'sproperty.44 seemsthough,thata \vomancouldInher-

"
"

.'

.:!

..
i

,',;'

,,'

/bid., 209.
AClIILLES TATIus (5.]7):

Wido\vs\vere infamousfor allegedse:v.ual


(aclIchc
\vhIch s,tiIl
amongcontemporary
societies). Melittc, hersclf
15 descnbed asamorous,eager havesex\vithhersecond,

ACHILlESTATlus 5.16. Themotherofthesophist Hermocrates,CaJlJsto.becamc

from her
because he disapprovedofher

aslave,,to such.? degrc:
that shc drd shed atcar
herson dled the t1o\\'erofhlsyouth ,

Lives 0/ the Sophists, 610.


. '
'
AOlrLLES
5.11. \Vido\vscouId act as heads offamrlIes: scc Istance

1l1.1, 335 whichAureliaArtemisia,citizenoflsedus,wido\v


TtS
atTermessos,
atombforherself,herdaughterand soninla\v.
(J
(1991), 1460.
.,
SEG30(1980), 615. Foranotherwido\v\vho
abasJIIca 10 ful
ter
promise,see SEG 31 (198/),
639,

Pnene, 255,
era.
J9

"

(Q

87

"'.

KONSTANnNOSMANTAS

herhusband'sproperty only ifIhey lacked


children; in an;
scriplionfrom W. Cilicia, daled Ihe second cenlury AD, awoman,
daughlerofCalligonus, is recorded asheir 10 herhusband

sons. 45 Itseemsvery
thalshewouldinherilherhusbands\vea
hersonswereslillalive. wido\vcould manageherchildren's

guardian,ifshewas aRomancilizen(andsobeing
Ihe
manlawofguardianshipwhichforbade \vomen 10 actas guardIans) 5d.
had give Ihem conlrol ofthe property when Ihey reached adu
R. VanBremenconcludes herarticle MenodoraofSillyon, 15
great ladyhadbeenanexceplionallywealthywomanonlybecausesheou

livedherson. 46 AnotherwomanwhoactedasepiIropos ofherson\Vas a,


.
. d con
troI over
daughterofMoas;47butsheseemed have sImplyexercIse
hisproperty,
havingclaims herself.Shemusthaveneeded
portfor heroldage,
a bequestmadebyanotherofhersons

.heruntilshedied,makeslittlesense. 48
\vou1d have

ed the Lnterest ofanuncuJtivatedestateandanolIvegroveIfshe\v


haveinherited herhusband'sproperty.
however,and from theprivatepatrOnWomencouldaetas
ageexercisedoverfreedmenorother
(ofusuallythelo\ver50cial classes)theybroke
Ihe palronageofwholecommunities..

classwo.men

worldcouldenjoyadegreeofsOC1al.fr
domwhichwouldhavebeen
forrespectabIewomeneven f
record \Vomen

lateHellenisticera. Bothliteratureand
fered hospitalityto men andsome ofthem
thishospitalIIY. to
politicalpatronage.Forinstance, LuciustheheroofPseudoLucian'sLucIIlS
.
or the Ass, meta grandladycalledAbroea, a friend ofhismother d
streetsoftheThessaliancityofHypata.Thewomanwassumptuouslydres 5e
and\vasaccompaniedby manyslaves. Sheopenlyinvited the youthto her
house, offering treathimlikeoneofher
sons. 49
. the epicurian
ofDiogenesofOinoanda, is recorded
Dlogeneswaslookedafterbya\Voman Rhodes, who wasrecomrn ende

SU[

JHS 12(1891), 228.


FamiIy from Sillyon,
104(1994), 53. Fora

\vho heirofherson'spropertyandset

sc;e a Latln
from Sellanl,Macedonia

(Athens 1896) 995.


41 SEG 6(1932),

'
d' SEG 6.(1932), 673. Forthe\vomen's
guardianship usuallyas Co wIththeofficial guardianunderRoman law seeR AUSENSCHL.AG, '[he
or
Law.,ofGraeco-Roman Egypt illthe Light ofthe Papyri
1955), 158159.
PSEUDOLUClAN, Lucius or Ihe Ass, 4.
45

R.

88

t
INDEPENDENTWOMEN

ROMANEAST

10 bim byhis
Meneas, Carusand Dionysius. 50 Bolhtheseexamp1es
proveIhat there was an activesocia1nehvorkfor the patriciale nearbyregionsanda1so that\vomenplayedasignificantpart Thepoliticalimpli.
cations ofthat k.ind ofpatronageare evident. The welI knownIuniaTheodora,oneoftheveryfewwomenwhowasrepeatedlyhonoured,andthusleft
animpressiveepigraphical dossier,
herstatusthroughtheshrewed
useofhospitality.Theinscriptions five alI whichhonourherhavebeen

themidfust centuryAD. Weare


going giveadetajledanaIYSls ofthe Iady'sbackground, mostlybecausethis hasaJready been done. sI
IuniaTheodorawasa

whichwasaRomancoIony;so,she
\vas entitled to the priviIegeofbeinga Romancitizen. 5Z Shewashonoured
by theLyciancityofPatarabecauseshehabitua]]y received Lycians her
houseand acted behalfofthem, thusplayingthe roJe ofan unofficial
ambassador. 53 Althoughshe was granted Ihe officialljt!eofproxenos,
IuniaTheodorawasa realinfluence bothCorinth'sloca\affairsandin the
coJony'srelationship \vith the LycianFederation. 54 Ashonours becameof
less polilical significance, 'proxeniaand honorarycilizenshipfrequenlly
were combined Ihe same grant'.55 Whereas in HeJleruslictimes this hon few ladiesofthe
ourwasgrantedratherftequentIy women,56
Roman
period are recordedasproxenoi. We havemanaged 10 fmd

two suchcases:
Philotera, Ephesianlady,\vas honoured
thedemosoftheMeliansasIheirproxenosandeuergetis. 51 Theothercase
IS aratherobscuretext(due 10 difficu]tsyntax),in
aman,Megonson
ofDionysiusanda\voman, Horatiadaughter \vifeofAquilas,\veregranled theproxeniaandcilizenshipofthe city ofIhe Olontus RomanCrete;
a.ccording to oneinterpretationofthetext, thewoman extends the honorary

as the useof
tltles to acertainGnaeusTudiciusMacuius,a

f,

i'

..

'"


'-,

Fr. 122. Seealso


Diogenes of Oinoanda: The

(Naples 1992), 36,secondcenturyAD.


.'
.
R.
fVomen
Life the Roman East, AnclentSo
Ctety. ResourcesforTeachers 15 (1985), 124137.
S2 Thisisone
whichconfusedR. KEARSEY, cit., 125 26.
SJ R.
cit., 133(appendix).
.
s. P.erhapsshe\vas
grantedofficialtitles becauseConnth\vas Romancolony,whtchmeantthatitsfemalecitizenscould holdoffices, evenlftheywereof
an honoraly nature.
55 J.
LARSEN, 'proxenos' entry G. L.
SCULLARD

Oxford C/assical Dictionar)' (Oxford 1970), 893.


. .
ForInstancethebesto\valofproxenia, amongotherhonoursandpnvtleoesto
the
Polygnota,atDelphi,86BC,FD, 111\ 249.
SEG31 (1981),

10

,-

89

, i
!
KONSTANTINOS MANTAS
the nomina indicates,he was probablyoneofherrelativesthroughmarriage. j&
Although most of rhese women seem have been members of rhe landed upper-cIass, and thus frequently holders of Roman citizenship, this is

always the case. The status of Iunia Theodora is difficult define. She must
have been the owner of estates Lycia as R. Kearsiey has

but her Latin cognomen Iunia, suggests descent from freedmen. AccordIng

"it is in general argued that calendaric cognomina were given
/0 children born (or even slaves bought) dIlring the relevant season. mon/h.

part
or]estival ".60
can be combined with the fact that Corinth was reorganised as a Roman coIony, 44 BC, with its new popuiation
deriving from Rome's freedmen and urban poor. 61 Another weH know.n
woman, who offered hospitality the apostle Paul, was the porphyropollS
Lydia in the Roman colony of Philippoi, Macedonia. 61 According G.
R. HorsIey, Lydia must have been of
origin because (a) most people
the purple trade were freedmen and (b) her name ret1ected her geographical origin. 63 Lower class people, even of freedrnan
were
always
excluded from
liturgists
benefactors: a slave-trader (somatemboros), AIexandrus had been market official (agoranomos) Thyarira, Lydia;64 a woman calIed LepuscIa, a name
from the word lepus (= hare)
which indicates

constructed a bath a

The marital status of these 'independent' women cannot be easily defined.


Theodora. clearly must have been a widow a
there is
reference a husband in any of the five texts of her epigraphical dossier
and her heir,
Iulius, is
her son a close relative. 66 As for Lydia,

Horsley suggests that she must have been a widow a divorcee; he does
rule

the possibility that she might have been a freedwoman witb

::



(1963), 156-157.
60 R. WRSLEY.
Puklic Life in the Roman
125-126.
61
The

(Rome 1982,
61.
D. ENGELS,
Corinth (Chicago-London 1990)

62 Acts, 16.14.
'
New Documents


2 (1982), 27.
. W.

EIiles and Business, Garnsey _ Hopkins - C. R.


lhe Ancient Economy (London 1983), 139.
.
. SEG 39 (1989),
372. For other instances of freedmen honoured thelr
seMCC:S see thc: example of a freedman honoured by the gerousia ofCyzicus SEG 40
(1990), 1126 at the end of the first century BC and another who was e;rolled as
mfember of.the gerousia. Also an

heJd the office of eirenophylax
the provtnce of Phrygia, 79 AD, SEG 40 (1990)
1232
66S ee R

, .
'.
RSLEY, .,omen
Public Life the
East, 127.

90

INDEPENDENT

ROMANEAST

therequisitenumberofthe children to entitleher certain


underthe
ius
buthethinksthat the first centuryAD,Romanlawperhaps
apply noncitizens. 67 He aJso expressesthe
that Luke
co.uld
mIght have "accorded 10 her rather than her hl/sband the initiative


Paul et 10 'her home' because she wos the one who responded
Paul's message".63 ForAbroea, wemayassumethatshe\vas a widow, but

wemust
forget thatshewasJiving in ThessaJywhich was
for
fiom bothHel''laxmorals" classical antiquity69 andalso the
70
lenistic andRomanperiods recordwomen
without aguardian. Unfortunately, wedo
have sufficient
fromtheJiterarysources
theroleofthe
women bospitaJity.
theirbut is de.Thewife oftherustic who invited DioChrysostom
scnbedasplayinganactiverole as hostess,
with tallowfor oneof
thestrangers,whileherhusbanddidthesameforthe
pouring

theircups, etc. 71 Butthese werepoorpeople, and is


that

suchdeedswouldhave been
b yservants. 72 According
VItruvius, the fust centuryarchitect tberuleofJ. CaesarandAugustus,
Greekhouseswerestilldesigned sothatthe women'spartofthehousewas
separate from that ofthernen. 73 RomansociaJ practiceenabledwomen

withmenatdinnerparties,andthiscreatedasharpcontrastbetween the
RomanandGreekcustoms. 74 Undoubtedly, \vas theRomaninfluencethat
enable.JuniaTheodoraandLydia act as hosts thesamemanneras

Both
GreekcitieswhichwereRomancolonies. 7S Nevertheless,thIs
does explainthe 'independence' ofwelltodowomen all theregions
ofthe empire. Widows, for
enjoyed economic fieedom from the
New Documen/s IIlustrating Ear/y Christianity 2 (1982), 32.
/bid., 28.
69 See PLAro'S Criton, 53e.
.
70 Forinstance,seeacuriousinscription \vhichaslaveStephanosis manumlt
ted by bothhis mistress,Menecleia and thecity ofElateia, 8CH 2(1
338
FortheRomanperiod,seeSEG 36(1986), 545C,lines23:

133/4AD.
71 OrSEVEN. 56.
72 Forinstance, PSEUDO LUCIAN'S, Lucius or the Ass (3), is the femalc; sIa.ve,

\vholooksafterLuciucwhenhevisitsHipparchus,and thehost s\vlfe.
7'
Architecture (trans. FrankGranger,London 1962),2224.
See W. COTTER, Women's Authority Ro/es Paul's Churches,


36,4(1994), 359360,and 362363. ForRoman interf:rence thls


Lives ofthe Sophists,. 529:
sophIst persuaded
he
admittheAthenians thesoclety theIrWJvesand chlldren..
Forthe RomanisedinfJuence Lydia'sbehavIoursee \V.
clt.,
67
68

91

:--

KONSTANTINOS

\,

AS

earlyHellenisticeraonwards:exarnplesofwido\vsactingastheirchiIdren's
guardians,jointIywiththeirownguardian16 oralone11 arerecordedfromthe
thirdcenturyBC. afragmentedGreekinscriptionfromSicily,anunnamed
manis recordedaspurchasinglandfrom thewido\vofSosias. 1S S. C. Hurophreys refers the
freedom of wido\vs 10 live alone and

their own affairs as shown the papyri of


century BC Egypt onwards, d
even the rhetorical texts of fourth century Athens she manages to
evidence for the indirect power of widows. iO \voman,
the W1
ow ofPasiphilos, is recorded as manumitting a female slave
Thessaly, 44

d
Some scholars, particularly R. Van Bremen and J. Reynolds, have

that women could act as office holders only as


Iieu of
ceased husbands or their children. S1 is
that there are a number

which support this thesis,S3 but the overall impression from the
study of the
is that female office-holders o\ved their position the
fact that they
their fathers' wealth and public liturgies. 84

ison between the benefactresses and patronesses of the East and West th
sixth century AD may be useful here. s, The first important difference between the customs of the West and East at this time was that women's participation in the westem variation of euergetism was minimaI: according

from the 000 western benefactors, only a handful seem to have
76 See D.
SCHAPS, Economic RighIs ofWomen Ancient Greece (Edinburgh
1979), 51.
/bid., 51 = /G JX1, 1654.
SEG 39 (1989),
1012A, ca. 200 BC.
79 S. C. HUMPHRE:YS, The Fami/y, Women and Death (London 1983), 47.
/bid.

11

/G

545.

R.

Family.from Sillyon,
104 (1994), 43-56; J.

The Social HisIory of Aphrodisias, Frezou1s (ed.), Societes urbaIn cs,


socIetes rurales dans l' Asie Mineure et la Syrie hellenistique et romaine (Str.1S bourg
1987), 107-113, esp. 112.
11 See my thesis, Appendix
for women acting lieu oftheir children.
. ... Women as well as men paid sums of money as a fee for thier office e.g. AureI,an Armasta paid

left by her father and her



BCH
'.6
at Pogla PlsId,a. The economic
of the third century relnforced
IJturgles upon women and minors, see R. MACMUU.EN, The Roman Governor's Re
to Crisis (Landon 1976), 168.
For
work women's participation the Roman West, see J. NICQL.s,
P?trona CIVItatIs: Gender and
Patronage, C. Deroux (ed.), Studies Lan n
LI.te.rature and Roman History (Brussels 1989), 117-142;

CIYI.c Patroness?, Tyche 5 (1990), 27-36; FORBIS, Women's Public /mage In


/talIan Honorary /nscripri01lJ, AJPh 1 1 (1990), 493-512.
12

92

--J'

INDEPENDENTWOMEN

ROMANEAST

beenwomen. 86 seconddifferenceis that theLatinWest, womanwas


everelevated to a civic office(excludingpriesthood).This is commented
upon by J. Nicols: "Regarding the more secu/ar
and honors, both

numerous examp/es
who had reached the highest civic
positions (e.g. archon and gymnasiarch) the East; neither they, nor indeed
any other, have presented evidence offema/e activity the more secII/ar
ojJices (e.g. duumvir) ofany \vestern community. ''87 DrForbis, theother
hand, fails to acknowledgetheproblem,assbeis attemptingto provethat
the West,benefactresseswerepraised,primarily, fortheirbenefactions, not
It didDot occurtoherthat, due to thefact that
for their domestic
?enefactresseswere elected to publicoffice,domesticpraisewas employed
from therigid
betweenthe
morderto counterbalance
sexes. Anotherdifferencelay thefactthat theWestthephenomenoDof

womenaspatronessesofmunicipalitiesstarted
theearly
thIrd century
NicoIsassociated withthe greaterpower\vhich thefemale members of the
couI1 enjoyed and practised,89 whereas the
East the phenomenon had started the second centwy BC.
The problem of what these women's actions were, need
become burdensome, since the vast majority of offices were liturgical: they cou1d be
occupied by gods or dead people or children.9Q person who could not actu requirements could be appointed as titular
ally fulfil the office's
gymnasiarchos or agonothetes witb another one acting as

man is recorded as 'epimeletes' of the agonothesia of a female agonothetes, in Attuda, Phrygia. 92 V. Chapot, uses this isolated example order to
93
conclude that women's participation public life was purely financial.
Thougb in a general sense his remarks are
we must
conclude that

"i

,.

86
cit., 28-29. According Nico1s' statistics from 200 \vestem patrons, only twenty-one were women, cit., 118.

J'

87

c;t.

FORBJS,
496-498 and 505-506.
89
c;t., 122-125.
Asia

1950). 651 .
90 See D. MAGIE Roman Ru/e
91 For

the younger was etemal gymnasiarchos Mytilene

3 loc31,
acting as hypogymnasiarchos,
208; also
epImeletes ofthe gymnasiarchia the emperor Hadnan Athens,/G . 3620.
743-744:

.-
92 LeBasW,

Nevertheless, thc evidence from Egypt Late


Antlqulty a]though
information for female
holders,
that they
acted through a male deputy e.g. Flavia
was elected as loglstes, prohedros
and futhcr of Oxyrunchus but sbe acted through her deputy Aurelius Timotheos,

2780.

Roma;ne
(Rome 1967), 161.
88

,i

93


KONSTANTINOSMANTAS
womenwhoheldofficedidso withmale guardiansorassistants:Demetria,
the Attudaagonothetiscocldhavebeena minor. 94
In someveryrare cases, womenare recordedasmembersofthegerou
sia,9J or the board of generaIs
as chiefs of a
or a viliage,98 and
as members ofthe ten first citizens board

Roman Egypt we even find a woman who was "bouJetes" and anotherone
This fact chaIIenges the common aswho was "father" ofthe city
surnption made by most schoIars, that "activities requiring action theform
of travelling, de1iberating, voting etc., remained c/osed 10 Ivomen ".101
Some women footed the biII the name of their children, without hold
office themseives: see, for instance, a woman, Arsinoe from second century AD Egypt who paid for her grandson's Kosmeitia.10 2 Asia Minor, we

that some women were wiIIing accept an office by their own choice

Nevertheless, women were generaIIy unwiIIing hoId ex because, presumabIy they were Iess weII-off than men: the
pensive
neocoros Hepie honoured by degree of the demos of Thasos is especially
praised because women usuaIIy avoid the neocoreia as is a heavy liturgy.l04
The
Aba honoured Moesia, is again praised for discharging .a
heavy liturgy.IOJ The most reveaIing evidence comes from Egypt: in a pel1 the epistrategos, a woman pleads for being exempt from the Iiturgy

94 Although the agonothesia was



h eld by minors. a number of children-agonothetes are recorded
and litterature. For instance see

Epigraphica l/ (Leiden 1969), and AELIUS ARISTlDES, Bir/hday Speech to Ape//as,

9!

J. aod L. ROBERT,

Carie,

67. 174:

404 Aegiale, Amorgos:


. IG
- [:11


97 DIdyma, ?25, Ilne 4:

fO{ul

Also see BCH (1883), 454.

91
99

l.

1.7,

R.
101 PSI,

101

101/.


Ios

94

265.

SilIyon, IGR 111,800-802, secondJthird century AD; twO minors,


and hls slster PhiloJtena Egypt, PSI,
303.
J. SIJPESTEIN, Female
Bullerin ofthe
Society ofPa-

2 4 (1987), 141-142, but the teJtt is dated


BREMF.N, Women and
236.
1159,

1.7,

91-94.

176.

18 (1962),

for

the sixth century AD.

(1,969),

the

343, lines 4750:

12,

.
sccond century AD, lines 15-20, sbe i,S
and choregiae of mcn.

INDEPENDENTWOMEN

ofepiteresis, which wasbeldbyherlate father, the grounds ofhersex


.age.106 earlyfourthcenturyAD,apriestess,Besis,isrecordedasnomlnatlng a man as her successor in the liturgy of Ktenarchias. I07 According to
Lewis, this is a situation without parallel. I08
Lewis is hesitant \vhen comes the subject of women bolding magisuacies Roman
and liturgies were not blended togethEgypt, as he believes that
er,l09 but his own example ofthe woman who paid for her grandson's Kosme
which is a magistracy confirms the fact that Roman Egypt, magistracles had acquired a semi-/iturgicaI character. I'O
surnmary, is ridicuIous assert that women the Roman East had

a degree of independence economic and poIitical Iife as some



century scholars believed, \vho were swprised find women in

hoIding magistracies and
this fact because women
m their own times lacked power the public sphere. 111
From a re-examination of the
we can conc/ude that: (a) there
was an
the legaI status of women the Roman world from
century BC, (b) that there was a great variation in the rights womthe
en enJoyed, differing from one region of t.he Roman empire to the other,
or become
(c) that Roman Ia\v which forbade \vomen to hoId pubJic

of their chiIdren did not apply to non-Roman citizens parts of
Asla Mmor and in Egypt before the Constitutio Antoniana, (d) whereas
Roman custom aIlo\ved women great freedom the sociaI sphere, lt excluded
from public life, (e) that ,vomen's access to public
a result of the transformation of the majority of these offices to lIturgles.

"Wherefore. my lord, since has been


rhar
shou/d be

such burdens. being a defenceless


'eIghted 'Irh many years and
danger ofhaving leave my home rhis accounl. .. ", P.Teb,
327, late second

AD.
:: SB, 11221,332 AD.
LEW1S, The Compulsory Public
ofRoman Egypt (F10rence 1982),
78, note 71
109

.
110
EWIS,
cit.,
80-81.
.
,
, .

In.to.
. LEWlS, cit., 81, note 80. For the

see WEGENER The
and the Nomination the
rhe

ofRoman Egypi, Mnemosyne (1948), 17.


See AGIBM 3 (1890), 220.
!r

106

Om

,-

..

ROMANEAST

95

",

'.

"

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