Hemelrijk Emily, Woolf Greg (eds.) Women and the Roman City in the Latin West

Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2013. — 431 p. — (Mnemosyne Supplements. History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity 360).Roman Cities, as conventionally studied, seem to be dominated by men. Yet as the contributions to this volume—which deals with the Roman cities of Italy and the western provinces in the late Republic and early Empire—show, women occupied a wide range of civic roles. Women had key roles to play in urban economies, and a few were prominent public figures, celebrated for their generosity and for their priestly eminence, and commemorated with public statues and grand inscriptions. Drawing on archaeology and epigraphy, on law and art as well as on ancient texts, this multidisciplinary study offers a new and more nuanced view of the gendering of civic life. It asks how far the experience of women of the smaller Italian and provincial cities resembled that of women in the capital, how women were represented in sculptural art as well as in inscriptions, and what kinds of power or influence they exercised in the societies of the Latin West.Illustrations and Charts
List of Abbreviations
List of ContributorsEmily Hemelrijk and Greg Woolf. IntroductionCivic Roles
Francesca Cenerini. The Role of Women as Municipal Matres
Alison Cooley. Women beyond Rome: Trend-Setters or Dedicated Followers of Fashion?
Werner Eck. Frauen als Teil der kaiserzeitlichen Gesellschaft: ihr Reflex in Inschriften Roms und der italischen Städte
Emily Hemelrijk. Female Munificence in the Cities of the Latin West
Christian Witschel. The Public Presence of Women in the Cities of Roman North Africa. Two Case Studies: Thamugadi and CuiculParticipation in Cult
John North. Gender and Cult in the Roman West: Mithras, Isis, Attis
James Rives. Women and Animal Sacrifice in Public Life
Wolfgang Spickermann. Women and the Cult of Magna Mater in the Western ProvincesPublic Representation
Glenys Davies. Honorific vs. Funerary Statues of Women: essentially the Same or Fundamentally Different?
Sheila Dillon. Portrait Statues of Women on the Island of Delos
Mary Harlow. Dressed Women on the Streets of the Ancient City: What to Wear?
Ursula Rothe. Whose Fashion? Men, Women and Roman Culture as Reflected in Dress in the Cities of the Roman North-WestEconomics
Rebecca Flemming. Gendering Medical Provision in the Cities of the Roman West
Miriam J. Groen-Vallinga. Desperate Housewives? The Adaptive Family Economy and Female Participation in the Roman Urban Labour Market
Claire Holleran. Women and Retail in Roman Italy
Coen van Galen. Grain Distribution and Gender in the City of RomeMobility
Greg Woolf. Female Mobility in the Roman West
Elizabeth M. Greene. Female Networks in Military Communities in the Roman West: A View from the Vindolanda Tablets
Lien Foubert. Female Travellers in Roman Britain: Vibia Pacata and Julia Lucilla