Professional Documents
Culture Documents
81-95
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1
KONSTANTINOS MANTAS
\
\
The
aspectoftheproblemisthatanumberof\vomen
ftom thesameregion and in the sarneeraare recordedasacting\vithouta
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
(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
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
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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
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
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.
1267.
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
!
,
L. Migeotte stresses the empha Atalanta's following her ancestors' policy towards the City.H
.
sis
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,
:: 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
. /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-
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i
,',;'
,,'
/bid., 209.
AClIILLES TATIus (5.]7):
from her
because he disapprovedofher
aslave,,to such.? degrc:
that shc drd shed atcar
herson dled the t1o\\'erofhlsyouth ,
Pnene, 255,
era.
J9
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(Q
87
"'.
KONSTANnNOSMANTAS
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
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[
\vho heirofherson'spropertyandset
sc;e a Latln
from Sellanl,Macedonia
'
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
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'
..
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'-,
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
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
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
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
d
Some scholars, particularly R. Van Bremen and J. Reynolds, have
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.
92
--J'
INDEPENDENTWOMEN
ROMANEAST
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,
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
9!
J. aod L. ROBERT,
Carie,
67. 174:
fO{ul
91
99
l.
1.7,
R.
101 PSI,
101
101/.
Ios
94
265.
1.7,
91-94.
176.
18 (1962),
for
(1,969),
the
12,
.
sccond century AD, lines 15-20, sbe i,S
and choregiae of mcn.
INDEPENDENTWOMEN
.
110
EWIS,
cit.,
80-81.
.
,
, .
In.to.
. LEWlS, cit., 81, note 80. For the
see WEGENER The
and the Nomination the
rhe
106
Om
,-
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ROMANEAST
95
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