Hidden Lives, Public Personae: Women and Civic Life in the Roman West

ISBN-13: 9780190251888 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 648 str.

Emily Hemelrijk

Opis

Roman cities have rarely been studied from the perspective of women, and studies of Roman women mainly focus on the city of Rome. Studying the civic participation of women in the towns of Italy outside Rome and in the numerous cities of the Latin-speaking provinces of the Roman Empire, this books offers a new view on Roman women and urban society in the Roman Principate. Drawing on epigraphy and archaeology, and to a lesser extent on legal and literary texts, women's civic roles as priestesses, benefactresses and patronesses or 'mothers' of cities and associations (collegia and the Augustales) are brought to the fore. In contrast to the city of Rome, which was dominated by the imperial family, wealthy women in the local Italian and provincial towns had ample opportunity to leave their mark on the city. Their motives to spend their money, time and energy for the benefit of their cities and the rewards their contributions earned them take centre stage. Assessing the meaning and significance of their contributions for themselves and their families and for the cities that enjoyed them, the book presents a new and detailed view of the role of women and gender in Roman urban life.

Recenzje

Hemelrijks study helps to redefine both our notions of the roles of Roman women in their local communities and our perceptions of gender at work in the economic and political environments of Roman cities. This is a must read for classicists working on gender in the Roman empire, and especially for teachers of courses on women and gender in the Roman world.

O autorze

Emily A. Hemelrijk is professor of Ancient History at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on Roman women. Her books include Matrona Docta. Educated Women in the Roman Élite from Cornelia to Julia Domna (London/New York, 1999 / 2004) and the edited volumes Roman Rule and Civic Life: Local and Regional Perspectives (Amsterdam 2004, with L. de Ligt and H.S. Singor) and Women and the Roman City in the Latin West (Leiden and Boston 2013, with Greg Woolf).