The Women of Rome: Re-Discovered in Roman Art

Throughout the centuries, histories written about the Romans have mainly focused on men and their 'patriarchal' contributions to the great urban city. Women, on the other hand, tend to disappear from the narrative and leave the 'stage of history' to men. In this sense, one would expect to see Roman women as merely passive 'actors' and almost always out of sight. When ancient writers or other people wrote about women during the Republic and Empire periods, certain ideal virtues would be ascribed to her. According to Roman men, Roman matrons should ideally be chaste, modest, pious, religious, and have domestic diligence (Hanninen 32). A Roman woman -- rich or poor -- was expected to marry and bear upright children as her sole purpose in life (Beard 30). Yet, a closer look at various Roman art and artifacts may shed some light on this subject of Roman women. These remnants of the past offer a broader perspective on the role of women in Roman society.

Roman culture and art are rooted in Etruscan culture and art, because the Etruscans were their predecessors and their culture was absorbed by the Romans (Ramage and Ramage 12). Since Etruscan and Roman history are closely knit together, one may look back upon these 'pre-Roman' people in order to understand Roman society as it was during the Republic and Empire years. An Etruscan sarcophagus lid from Vulci may be used to discuss the early roles of women. It was made in the early third century BC out of volcanic stone. Its length is six feet and eleven inches, and the lid shows a couple lying together and embracing beneath a light cover (Ramage and Ramage 37). In spite of the couple shown embracing each other on the lid, it is believed a certain woman named Ramtha Visnai was deposited alone in the sarcophagus. Reasons for this belief are that the coffin is too narrow for two people, and the inscription mentions only her name, while her husband's name -- Arnth Tetnies -- is only revealed by her gamonymic (Nielsen 76).

The first thing this sarcophagus reveals about these 'pre-Roman' women is that they were considered and treated as equals to men . Women had a recognized and valued place in the Etruscan society. They led a visible existence and were free to join in at the festivals and banquets, wining and dining along with whom they wished and not necessarily their husbands (Nielsen 77). Since there is strong evidence that Ramtha Visnai was buried without her husband, this goes to show that women were able to merit the same burial as men and have tombs built customarily for them.

The second thing the sarcophagus reveals is that marriages were looked upon as loving relationships. That the couple is shown reclining reinforces the idea of a strong marital bond. Matthew Roller argues that Roman women of any status "could always dine reclining alongside a man, and that this signifies a licit sexual connection" (377). Thus, wives were appreciated as enjoyable company and were the center of the social life of the household.

Though a woman could lead an invariably visible existence, Roman women were not allowed to directly participate in politics and other forms of public life. However, participation in religious cults or rites was expected and required of every virtuous Roman woman or matron (Mustakallio 60). An honorary inscription from a province in Africa in the second or third century A.D. praises a faithful priestess named Modia Quintia. The reason for her praise is that "on account of the honor of the priesthood, [she] adorned the portico with marble paving, coffered ceilings and columns, exceeding in cost her original estimate with an additional contribution and quite apart from the statutory entry fee [for the priesthood] and also built an aqueduct" (Lefkowitz and Fant 153).

This account written in the inscription opens up a new role for Roman women in their society: they can be benefactresses and patrons of the arts. This indicates that they had their own funds at their disposal, at least in the form of dowries, property, jewelry, and gold (Mustakallio 64). Lower class women -- who could not afford the luxury of staying home -- earned wages in many professions, such as nurses, midwives, dressmakers, beauticians, and wet nurses. Wealthy and poor women alike commissioned works of art ranging from portraits to buildings to funerary monuments (Kleiner and Matheson 14).

One example of a commissioned work is the Porticus Octaviae in Rome. Octavia -- the sister of Augustus -- commissioned it, and it reflected her role in dynastic and imperial politics, while offering an example for a woman of means to create a civic identity usually closed to her in public life. Octavia's portico was the main contribution by a woman to an area that was emerging as a center of Augustan civic beneficence specifically tied to the imperial family. Her beneficence represented not only a very generous outlay of capital, but also a virtuous selflessness that marked the ideal Augustan woman. Features of the building added by Octavia signified acts of maternal duty expected of the Roman matron upon the death of a family member ("Engendering Space" 13). This space constantly reminded visitors of the feminine forces that contributed to Rome's greatness and promoted the agenda of the Augustan empire and dynasty.

The goddess Venus was thought of as the mother of the Roman nation and as a sponsor of Rome's wide-reaching power (Leach 344). The Roman Venus was seen as a maternal, domestic, and wholesome figure. Her positive virtues were always emphasized, more so when she became the ancestress of the Julian family. Since Venus is seen as the ideal Roman matron, being identified with her would be the ultimate honor for any Roman woman. During the Roman Empire it became customary for the imperial family to honor their women by creating Venus portrait-types in funerary contexts.

The Aphrodite of Knidos, one of Greece's most famous statues, became the prototype for the 'modest Venus' copies in Rome. She is posed nude with her "hand over her genitals, her back curved and her head turned as if she were taken by surprise at someone's arrival" (Kampen 32). What makes the Roman copies individualized is that each is given a realistic face or portraiture in order to identify whom the Venus is supposed to be. It is a clash of a realistic portrait juxtaposed on an ideal, female nude. Eve D'Ambra explains that the nudity is a 'costume', symbolizing the wife's procreative powers, an important part of her role as a Roman matron, and creating an image worthy of the public renown or achievement of her spouse (102).

Members of the imperial family, such as Marcia Furnilla, the wife of the emperor Titus, had Venus portraits done to identify themselves with the ideal woman figure. It was also common for ordinary Roman women to be commemorated with a funerary statue in this way, if they could afford to do so. These private portraits of matrons as Venus also served to connect them to imperial women. There was also an importance stressed upon the individual recognition in the non-imperial funerary portraits because these portraits highlighted the life of virtue by these women (Matheson 135).

The role of women in Roman society was to embody the perfect Roman matron as it was articulated in the culture. It is established that any Roman woman must exemplify the cardinal virtues of duty (pietas), chastity or modesty (pudicitia), and harmony (concordia). These virtues must be constantly exercised in their public and private lives. Using archaeological and literary evidence of Roman art, one can see a wider picture of the responsibility and positions of both rich and poor Roman women during the Etruscan, Republic, and Empire periods of Rome. The women of Rome were constrained to some extant by the bonds of society, cultural expectations, and by the resources at their disposal. Yet, by no means were these women incapable of positive action.

Works Cited

Beard, Mary Ritter. "The Classic Woman?" History Today 43 (1993): 29-33.

D'Ambra, Eve. "Nudity and Adornment in Female Portrait Sculpture of the Second Century AD." Kleiner and Matheson 101-14.

"Engendering Space: Octavia's Portico in Rome." Aurora 4 (2003): 13-33.

Hanninen, Marja-Leena. "The Dream of Caecilia Metella." Setala and Savunen 28-38.

Kampen, Natalie B. "Gauging the Gender Gap." The Women's Review of Books 15.5 (1998): 32-35.

Kleiner, Diana E. E., and Susan B. Matheson, eds. I, Claudia II. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.

Leach, Eleanor W. "Venus, Thetis and the Social Construction of Maternal Behavior." The Classical Journal 92 (1997): 347-71.

Lefkowitz, Mary R. and Maureen B. Fant. Women in Greece and Rome. Toronto: Samuel-Stevens, 1977.

Matheson, Susan B. "The Elder Claudia: Older Women in Roman Art." Kleiner and Matheson 125-138.

Mustakallio, Katariina. "Legendary Women and Female Groups in Livy." Setala and Savunen 53-64.

Nielsen, Marjatta. "Common Tombs for Women in Etruria." Setala and Savunen 65- 136.

Ramage, Nancy H., and Andrew Ramage. Roman Art. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996.

Roller, Matthew. "Horizontal Women: Posture and Sex in the Roman Convivium." American Journal of Philology 124 (2003): 377-422.

Setala, Paivi, and Liisa Savunen, eds. Female Networks and the Public Sphere in Roman Society. Rome: Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, 1999.