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Ostia Summer 2012 1. Description; Life: birth, childhood, women
- 1. Ostia: Life in a Roman Port
- 2. Portus: Commerce in a Roman Port
- 3. Significance • First stop for imports to Rome • Major examples of brick-faced concrete construction • “Quintessential” example of 2nd century domestic architecture (Pompeii - 1st century) • Range of social classes • Relatively good preservation
- 4. The Importance of Ostia Video American Institute for Roman Culture Conservation for the future: Ostia Antica - Rinaldi
- 5. Statues awaiting transport to a lime kiln, almost suffering the fate of much of Ostia
- 6. • Why study Ostia and Portus • Overview of the city and port • People of Ostia and Portus – Who are they (brief) – Birth and childhood – Marriage – Women at work
- 7. Week 2 Work, the economy, public buildings Week 3 Home and entertainment Week 4 Religion - death
- 8. Vocabulary Prosopography πρόςωπον (face) Matrimony mater Apotropaic ἀποτρόπαιοσ (averting evil) Horrea - warehouse
- 9. Where
- 10. Ostia and Portus
- 12. Claudian Harbor - Lighthouse
- 13. Claudian Harbor - Mole
- 14. Port of Trajan
- 15. Port of Trajan
- 17. Imperial Palace – Computer Reconstruction
- 18. Portus - Darsena
- 21. Port of Claudius – Based on Excavations
- 22. Trajan’s Basin – Google Earth
- 25. Portus Shipyard – Trajan’s harbor
- 26. Sea Going Vessel
- 27. Fishing Vessel
- 28. Mapping Portus
- 31. Portus – Late Antique
- 32. Port at Ostia
- 33. Population of the Late Ostians • Based on names on inscriptions – 94 (28 per cent) out of the 341 dedicatees, whose status can be securely identified, are freeborn. – 166 (29 per cent) of the 568 cognomins are Latin names without any apparent 'servile' connotation. – 56% of builders have Greek names – 26-30% of members of collegia were Greek
- 34. Residents from the Empire and beyond
- 35. Weighted annual average δ18O of precipitation in Italy Finding out where they are from
- 36. Molars Isotope variation
- 37. • The higher the nitrogen the higher the amount of marine foods in the diet OR • The higher the amount of meat in the diet • Females eat more vegetables OR • Females eat less fish Age, gender, diet
- 38. Childbirth (Science Museum London)
- 42. Nursing
- 43. Weaning
- 44. Protecting Children (Apotropaic amulets)
- 45. Bulla
- 46. Sport
- 47. A Boy Grows Up
- 48. Toys or votives?
- 49. Board games
- 51. Grafitto
- 52. Slate, Foro della Statua Eroica
- 53. Inscription published by Carlo Ludovico Visconti
- 57. Marriage Age Legal • Girls 12 • Boys 14 Practice • Late teens for females • Late 20s for males
- 58. Figures for Roman Empire
- 59. Divorce – Roman Style • Initiated by either party • Return of dowry if initiated by husband • Partial retention if: – Initiated by wife – Children – Adultery by wife
- 60. Ideals of Marriage • Faithful to one man • Obedient • Eternal
- 62. Nonia Pelagia, baker (along w. her husband)
- 63. Food sales
- 64. Barmaid
- 66. Other female occupations • Doctor • Gladiator (based on an inscription) • Prostitute • Lead pipe producers or suppliers – (Iulia Aquilina) – Faltonia Proba w. husband, Clodius Alfinus – Anicia Italica w. husband, Valerius Faltonius Adelfius
- 67. Female doctor and/or pharmacist - Gaul
- 68. Faltonia Fistula stamps Anicia
- 69. Notable Women • Mothers of collegia (Matres collegiorum) – Claudia Arria, Iunia Zosime: dendrophorum (cult of the Great Mother – branch bearers) – Domitia Civitas: cannophorum (cult of the Great Mother – reed bearers) – Macia Menophile: fabrum navalium (shipbuilders) • Patroness – Iscantia Prima: hastoforum Ostiensium (lance bearers)
- 71. ANINIA HILARA / CL * ARRIAE MARI / INCONPARABILE / FECIT VIXIT * / ANN * L * MEN / * X. Claudia Arria
Editor's Notes
- As late as 1831 Carlo Fea, then in charge of the excavations, had to prevent that a certain Giuseppe Vitelli threw marble decoration of the Capitolium in the kiln
- Portus - 1 Claudian lighthouseA huge lighthouse was built by Claudius between the two moles of his harbour. Ancient authors (Suetonius, Cassius Dio) tell us that the lighthouse was on top of an island, an isolated mole. They also state that part of the foundation of the lighthouse consisted of a huge ship, that had been used by Caligula to carry an obelisk from Egypt to Rome. Apparently it was used as a caisson. The building process must have been similar to that of the harbour at Centumcellae, not far away, during the reign of Trajan. It is described as follows by Pliny the Younger:"I was delighted to be summoned by the Emperor [Trajanus] to act as his assessor at Centum Cellae [Civitavecchia], where I am now." [...] "The house is really beautiful: it is surrounded by green fields and faces the sea-shore, where a natural bay is being converted with all speed into a harbour. The left arm has already been reinforced by a solid mole and the right is in process of construction. At the entrance to the harbour an island is rising out of the water to act as a breakwater when the wind blows inland, and so give a safe passage to ships entering from either side. Its construction is well worth seeing. Huge stones are brought by large barges and thrown out one on top of another facing the harbour; their weight keeps them in position and the pile gradually rises in a sort of rampart. A hump of rocks can already be seen sticking up, which breaks the waves beating against it and tosses them high into the air with a resounding crash, so that the sea all round is white with foam. Later on piers will be built on the stone foundation, and as time goes on it will look like a natural island. The harbour will be called after its maker, and is in fact already known by his name; and it will save countless lives by providing a haven on this long stretch of harbourless coast."The lighthouse was very high, and built after the example of the famous Pharos of Alexandria: altissimam turrem in exemplum Alexandrini Phari (Suetonius, Claudius XX), It could also be called Pharos, as could other lighthouses (see e.g. Herodianus IV,2,8). It is depicted on many mosaics in Ostia, on reliefs, sarcophagi and funerary slabs from Ostia and Rome, on coins of Antoninus Pius, Faustina and Commodus, on lamps and on the Tabula Peutingeriana.The lighthouse of Alexandria on a coin of Domitianus.Testaguzza 1970, p. 124.According to Stuhlfauth the lighthouseprobablyhadfourstoreys. The lowerthreeweresquare or rectangular, the upperonewascylindrical. However, there are manyvariations in the depictions. A possibleexplanation for some of thesevariationsis, thatdifferentsides of the lighthouseweredepicted. Sometimes the lighthouseisdepicted with a large archedporch in the loweststorey and with windows in the upperstoreys, butsometimesall of the storeyshaveporches.From lines on mosaics can be deducedthatallstoreys of the lighthousewere made of large stoneblocks. Thereseems to havebeen a statue of an Emperor (Claudius or Nero?) on the penultimatestorey. On top burned a fire to guide shipsduring the night. Pliny the Elderexplainsthat "the dangerlies in the uninterruptedburning of the beacon, in case itshould be mistaken for a star, the appearance of the fire from a distancebeingsimilar" (periculum in continuationeignium, ne sidusexistimeretur, quoniam e longinquo similisflammarumaspectus est; NH XXXVI,xviii,83).Taking the fuel for the fire to the top must he been a particularchallenge. Slopingramps inside the lighthousemayhavebeenused, as in Alexandria. Thistakesus to the interior of the lighthouse. The ancientdepictionssuggestthat the lighthousewasquite wide and hadmanystoreys (in contrast to the lighthouse in Alexandria, whichhadonly a fewstoreys and wasrelativelyslender). Eachupperstoreyseems to havebeenconsiderablynarrowerthan the storeybelow. Thisis a veryunusualshape for a tower, and I do notknowanyparallels. How was the weight of eachupperstoreyhandled? The shape of the lighthouseisasunusualas the shape of the Trajanichexagonalbasin.The ancientauthors do nottellushow high the lighthousewas. Some archeologistsbelievethat the lighthouse in Alexandria was 120 metres high (with a foundation of 30x30 metres), and thereis no reason to thinkthat the lighthouse of Portuswaslower. Ifitwas 50 metres high itcould be seen in Rome - and itsurelycould. Ifitwas 120 metres high (23 metreshigherthan Big Ben) itcould be seenat a distance of 40 kilometres. Claudiusmaywellhavedecided to make the lighthouse of Portusslightlyhigherthanthat of Alexandria, to underline the supremacy of Rome. Similarly the sinking of the shipthathadbeenused for the transport of an obeliskmaynotonlyhavebeen a technicaloperation, butalso a symbolicaldeed (Boyce 1958, p. 77). The lighthouseseems to havebeenrestored by AntoninusPius: Pharirestitutio (SHA 8, 2-3; the contextsuggeststhat the lighthouse of Portusismeant, becauseitismentioned in a list of work thattookplace in Italyonly).In the period 334-345 AD LuciusCrepereiusMadalianusisconsul(aris) moliumphariat(que) purgaturae, i.e. responsible for the maintenance of the moles and the lighthouse, and for dredging in the harbour. Thisiswhatweread in an inscriptionthatwasfoundnear the hexagon by Guido Calza (Calza 1925; Thylander B336). This, by the way, is the inscription from whichhasbeendeducedthat Constantine made Portus a city thatwasindependent of Ostia:FID(a)E EXERCITATIONEMBONITATI POLLENTI LVCIOCREPEREIO MADALIANO V(iro) C(larissimo)PRAEF(ecto) ANN(onae) CVM IVRE GLADIICOMITI FLAVIALI CORR(ectori) FLAM(iniae)ET PICENI LEG(ato) PRO PRAETORE PROV(inciae)ASIAE LEG(ato) PROV(inciae) AFRICAE CONSVLA(ri)AED(ium) SACRAR(um) CONSVL(ari) MOLIVM PHARIAT(que) PVRGATVRAE QUAEST(ori) CANDID(ato)PRAET(ori) CONSVLI OB MVLTA IN SE EIVSTESTIMONIA ORDO ET POPVLVS (civitatis)FL(aviae) CONSTANTINIANAE PORTVENSESSTATVAM PVBLICAE PONENDVM CENSVERVNT The CodexTheodosianus (XIV.6.3.1-8) mentions the lighthouse in 365 AD. In late antiquity the lighthousewasusedas a symbol of salvation on Christian sarcophagi.Documents from 1018 and 1049 mentiontwotowers in Portus, presumably the Claudian and Trajaniclighthouses. OneiscalledCocuzina or Cucuzuba / Cucuzuta, the otherMolon or Montone. Wealsohear of a fundusBacatus, a nameapparentlyderived from the Claudianlighthouse (Baccha = Specula = Pharus). On August 25, 1190 Richard Coeur de Lion visited Ostia, and wehearthis: Et posteaintravitTyberim; ad cuiusintroitum est turrispulcerrimased solitaria ("And afterthat he entered the mouth of the Tiber, at the entrance of whichis a very beautiful butsolitarytower"). Meiggssuggeststhat he saw Tor Boacciana, whichwasperhaps a small lighthouseat the mouth of the Ostianbranch of the Tiber. But can thatsimpletowerreally be called a very beautiful tower, or wasthis the lighthouse of Portus? Remains of the lighthousecouldstill be seen in the 15th century. In the book De Roma instaurata, written 1444-1446, Flavio Biondo wrote: "Di questa torre ne veggiamo, insino ad hoggi una buona parte in pie, se non che ne sono stati tolti i marmi, de quali ella era incrustata" (translation by Lucio Fauno, Venezia 1558, 41). Note thataccording to Flavio Biondo the towerwasdecorated with marble. In hisCommentaria rerum memorabiliumPius II Piccolomini (died 1464) wrote: "Ancora rimangono vestigia della torre le quali si vedano là nel mare; tutti gli altri monumenti sono periti interamente" (edition Frankfurt 1614, 301). In 1483 Sixtus IV (Francesco della Rovere) visitedPortus "dove si vedono ancora i muri vetustissimi della città di Porto, molto diruti, e la torre del Faro, tanto che ancora oggi essa conserva lo stesso nome" (Iacopo Gherardi, Il Diario di Roma, in Muratori, Rerum ItalicarumScriptores Vol. 23, part 3, 3-4). After 1483 there are no furtherreferences to the lighthouse. Perhaps the last remainsweredemolishedsoonafterwards.House ofthe Harbor Moasic; Square of the Corporations 22
- The north and south mole can be seen on coins of Nero from 64 AD. They are not identical. The one on the right, the north mole, has arches. On some coins of the series there seem to be a temple and a man sacrificing in front of an altar at the end of the left, south mole.
- Coin of trajan
- CG simulation of lighthouse (Gareth Beale, ACRG)
- Found near Museum of the Ship
- Fragment of a marble plan of Portus (18 x 16.5 cm.). The fragment was reused in the tomb of Iulia Procula, in the Isola Sacra necropolis. The many holes were made when the fragment was reused, perhaps in the third century. The length of the facades is indicated by numbers: CLVII[..], CCXXIX, and C[....]. Two triangles represent staircases. The area that is depicted measures c. 41 x 37 metres. Lengths used for tax purpose?
- "The 'amphitheatre' we have discovered was similar in ground area to the Pantheon in Rome, but it is unclear exactly what it was used for," continues Professor Keay."Gladiatorial combat may have taken place there - wild beast baiting, the staging of mock sea battles, or it may have been a form of Roman 'folly', shaped like an amphitheatre, but used as a monumental garden. It is unusual to find this type of building so close to a harbour."Having solved one riddle, archaeologists have now uncovered another; the white marble head of a statue unearthed at the site of once-luxurious rooms close to the 'amphitheatre'. It is thought the head dates back to the 2nd or early 3rd century, however it is less clear who it depicts."The elderly bearded male wearing a flat skull-cap could suggest it is Ulysses, however it is equally possible it is a representation of one of the Greek sailors who accompanied him on his travels. For the moment his identity remains a mystery," concludes Professor Keay.
- In 2000 and 2001 the German Archaeological Institute in Rome (under the direction of M. Heinzelmann) investigated the so-called navalia and a temple, that had partly been excavated in the 19th century by P.E. and C.L. Visconti. The structure is situated between the so-called Palazzo Imperiale and a newly discovered harbour basin. It consists of a huge platform (c. 70 x 65 metres; opus mixtum), below which are deep, rectangular rooms and on top which was a temple.Recent work has found evidence of a lighthouse and A ship wreck
- There are several possible origins for the outsiders (atbirth) buried in the cemetery of Isola Sacra who musthave come from regions where d18O of local precipitationis lower than in Rome by up to 2.6%. One possibleregion of origin is the Roman Imperial provinces lying tothe North of the Italian landmass.Although the majority of outliers from the ‘‘local’’Roman group display low d18Oap values, we identifiedonly one individual (SCR 617; adult male) whose M1d18O value (1.3%) was noticeably higher than the modernRoman population (Fig. 5), about 2.7% higher thanthe upper range of the ‘‘local’’ group. Given the spread ind18O of meteoric precipitation in Italy today (Fig. 2), it is conceivable that this individual could have been a nativeof southern Italy who migrated to the north early in hislife.It has further been shown that a significantminority of the sample as a whole were individualswho migrated as children, so that migration to Portuswas not a predominantly single adult male activity.Migrants to Portus were families, most obviously as childrenaccompanying the parents.The data support historical demographic estimates ofhigh mortality rates in the Roman urban region, and theconsequent need for high rates of population replacementto maintain the size of the Roman population inthis era.The d18Oap values show that approximately one-thirdof the individuals in our sample were not born in theregion around Rome, but migrated to this area fromregions where local drinking water has somewhat lower d18Oap values. It has further been shown that a significantminority of the sample as a whole were individualswho migrated as children, so that migration to Portuswas not a predominantly single adult male activity.Migrants to Portus were families, most obviously as children accompanying the parents.
- The combined 13C and 15N data suggestthat females were consuming a greater proportion ofterrestrial C3 plants in their diet, and that marinefoods made up a comparatively larger proportion ofthe male diet.Male members of the Romanhousehold, and of Roman society, had higher statusand power than female members, and consequently,likely had greater access to prestige food items or atleast greater varieties of food.
- This marble plaque depicts a ‘parturition’, or birthing scene. Such scenes eased the fears of expectant mothers by depicting positive birthing images. During this time, midwives were female. Men were not present at births unless a doctor was required in the case of a high status mother. Here, a woman reclines on a couch covered in drapes, attended by three women. They are dressed in classical Roman robes and one is holding the baby. The plaque was excavated at Ostia, Italy.25 centimetres high, 34 centimetres wide and 6.3 centimetres thick (not inches, as confirmed by Caroline Lawrence, who inspected the relief). We also read that it was purchased in Rome in 1932 by Captain Peter Johnstone-Saint, a collector working for Sir Henry Wellcome.It is obviously a funerary relief. Of course it is impossible to tell where the relief was found precisely, but the Isola Sacra necropolis, that was discovered in 1925, is a good candidate. However, this burial place is known for its terracotta reliefs. This relief is of marble and was therefore much more expensive (in the upper side are a round hole and a rectangular depression, suggesting that this is reused marble). Also the artistic quality is quite high.The fact that the woman giving birth is lying down has raised some eyebrows. Some people claim that in antiquity women gave birth only in a seated position (see for example a relief in the facade of tomb 100 of the Isola Sacra necropolis). Is the relief then perhaps a forgery? However, in the early second century AD, Soranus of Ephesus mentions the "general rule that extraction of the fetus in difficult labor must take place with the woman lying down" (Gynecology book II, translation Temkin, p. 72; see Google Books). Furthermore, on some of the photographs traces of paint seem visible on the relief, suggesting it is genuine.Spurred into action by the discovery of our Ostian plaque, webmaster Jan-Theo Bakker finds this great article on childbirth in ancient times which references Pliny the Elder and Soranus of Ephesus. To summarise, Pliny the Elder is BAD, suggesting ruses such as placing the right foot of a hyena on the woman giving birth, or offering her potions made of goose semen or a drink sprinkled with sow's dung. Really, Pliny!Woman giving birth sitting on a bed, rather than a birthing stoolSoranus is the sensible one. He tells us step by step what will happen:At the onset of labor, the midwife is summoned and the necessary equipment made ready. During labor, the parturient lies on her back on a hard, low bed with support under her hips; her feet drawn up together, her thighs parted. The midwife should ease the labor pains with gentle massage, with a cloth soaked in warm olive oil laid over the abdomen and genital area, and place bladders filled with warm oil – the ancient version of hot-water bottles – against the woman's sides. As the cervix begins to dilate, the midwife encourages the process of dilation by gently rubbing the opening with her left forefinger (with its nail cut short); the finger is to be generously smeared with olive oil. When the cervix is dilated to the size of an egg, the parturient is moved to the midwife's stool, unless she has become very weak; in the latter case, the delivery is to be made on the hard bed. If the birth is successful, the woman is finally moved to a soft couch.detail of Ostia plaqueSo what we have on our Ostia plaque is a woman who has given birth and been removed to the soft couch. The baby has been washed and prepared according to Soranus, and is now being presented on a cushion, just as the mother ejects the afterbirth.On balance, I think this relief is a genuine 2nd century Roman funerary plaque. This seems the most likely explanation, given the provenance of the piece. But did it commemorate the baby who is being born? Or was it a memorial to the mother herself? Or was it a monument to the three midwives, (or perhaps even a single midwife show at three different points during the birth) Dionysius of Halicarnassus, writing his Antiquities of Rome (2.15) under Augustus, included a 'constitution of Romulus'which has strong links with first-century thought.6 It provides that citizens must rear all male children (except those who are acknowledgedby five neighbours to be deformed) - and the first girl. But Cicero (de legibus 3.19) and Seneca (de ira 1.15.2) reveal that deformed babies were exposed (as they still are, though less obtrusively, if the handicap is bad enough), and it was part of a midwife's training to decide which babies were worth rearing.' Healthy but inconvenient babies might also be left to die. Musonius Rufus (p. 80 ff. Hense) in the mid-first century A.D. devoted one of his lectures on ethics to the question whether one should rear all one's children. The rich do not, he says, so that there shall be fewer children to share the family property; Petronius (Sat. 116) and Tacitus (Ger. 19, Hist. 5.5) echo the complaint. Since the law required property to be shared among sui heredes,it must have been a temptation. Among the poor, there was no question of splitting up an estate.
- Terracotta Ostia Museum 11” high
- Shows that children were higher in the food chain than the average Ostian.
- Replica in Museum atEUROstia Antica, Italien, IT, Museo. Inv. no. 1373 in storage; Vatican from Ostia but head and body are not part of the same original MuseoGregorianoProfano. Inv. no. 10702
- Sarcophagus in Museum showing children wrestling in a palestra
- Child Sarcophagus of M. Cornelius Statius depicting stages in a boy's life (Roman, 2nd century CE) Mother nurses infant while father looks on; father holds infant; youth rides in chariot drawn by goat; youth recites lesson before tutor..jpg
- A very strong contender for ‘find of the dig’, this amazing piece turned up in finds washing yesterday. What was originally thought to be just part of the modern fill, turned out to be something very special indeed. Upon holding the slate up to the light, Greek letters became visible and everyone got very excited - perhaps we had discovered a late Roman school board.
- Hic Nilusjacet, viromniumpraestantissimus;Rhetor, magnam sui admirationem, tamquamsignumpraese-ferensAequanimus, prudens, comissapiensque.Here lies the Nilus, a man most excellent of all;Rhetorician, great, as was his admiration as a sign of itCalm, prudent, polite and wise.
- Worship of Diana symbolic from a house in Osita now in Vatican MuseumOn theright, there is a procession of girls, some who hold baskets of grapes or other fruit in theirhands, while two small figures hold poles with busts affixed at the top. Bunches of grapeshang from the ends of the pole. This fresco, from a house in Ostia, is dated from the latesecond to the early third century CE (Andreae, 1977; Stern, 1981).14It is likely part of a much larger representation depicting important festivals in the Roman year, of which only one other fresco now survives (see Stern, 1981: plate 8). There is some debate asto whether this fresco represents two different festival days in the Roman year assignalled by the two groups of children. The small figures on the left clearly honor thegoddess Diana (Stern, 1981: 440; Scullard, 1981: fig. 32; Green, 2007: 140), whose festival was celebrated on 13 August in Rome, and most likely in Ostia since it was a nearbyRoman colony.e cult of Diana, while popular with the inhabitants of the Latium region, was notpart of civic religion. As the left portion of this domestic fresco shows, a small cult statueof Diana stands on a high pedestal flanked by two burning torches. Four small figureshold up burning torches at the side of the statue.17As discussed below, the torches mayreference a night-time sacred procession carried out by women at Diana’s temple at LakeNemi. The figures appear to be a mixture of girls and boys coiffed and dressed as adults.The remaining figures are young girls, coiffed as adult women. They wear mantles andshoes.18In her 2007 study of the Italic goddess, C.M.C. Green has suggested that as wellas being the guardian of women in childbirth, ‘‘Diana was the tutela of the young’’(Green, 2007: 140). One of Diana’s key roles included the teaching and training of theyoung, since they were ‘‘prone to error, to wandering off the path.’’ As Green states,Roman first-century BCE poets Horace and Catullus wrote hymns to be sung by girlsand ‘‘chaste’’ boys together during worship of the goddess (Green, 2007: 138). Selectedlines from Catullus’ poem XXXIV give us some indication of the role of children in theworship of the goddess:We girls and chaste boys are lieges of Diana. Diana let us sing, chaste boys and girls. O childof Latona, great offspring of greatest Jove, whom thy mother bore by the Delian olive-tree,that thou mightest be the lady of mountains and green woods, and sequestered glens andsounding rivers. ... Thou, goddess, measurest out by monthly course the circuit of the year,thou fillest full with goodly fruits the rustic home of the husbandman.
- Relief of a couple joining their right hands in marriage (see gold ring) on a marble tombstone in the shape of a niche; in between two putti hold garlands above their heads; the bearded husband holds a scroll while his wife holds a pomegranate (?); their boy child clings to his mother's leg. 2nd-3rd century CE. Ostia Museum.Marriage sine manu leaves control in hands of bride’s fatherA ROMAN GOLD MARRIAGE FINGER RING CIRCA 2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D. With broad flat hoop, the oval bezel decorated with the standing figures of a man and woman, their hands clasped for the ceremony of joining hands at a marriage, within beaded wire border ¾ in. (2 cm.) across hoop
- “Decurionumdecreto imp. Caesari T. AelioHadrianoAntoninoPio p(atri) p(atriae) et divaeFaustinaeobinsignemeorumconcordiamutique in aravirgines quae in coloniaOstiensinubent item maritiearumsupplicent” (CIL XIV, 5326). Inscription compelling all young couples marrying in Ostia to worship the representations of Concord, Antoninus Pius and Faustina Major. Ostia Antica, Latium, Italy.That the concordant wills alone did not suffice is, in the first place, shown by the fact, that marriage may take place outside of the presence of the future husband, providing the bride should be brought to his house; finally, and above all, it could not take place in the absence ofthe bride, since in this case she could not possibly be at the hus-band's disposal. At Rome, marriage remained a private legal ceremony, and the efforts of the imperial power to transform it into a public one would have doubtless remained vain, had the Christian church not taken upon itself the task of regulating matrimonial law. One must proceed to the time of Justinian to find, in the civil law, Christian ceremonies, and then it is by way of a suggestive rather than an imperative manner.
- The few indicators that there are concerning age at marriage, therefore, seem to point to a rather later age of marriage, probably in the late teens, as typical of most girls in Roman society. A recent study on the age at first marriage of males in the Roman empire in the west has reached the conclusion that, unlike many young men in competitive 'office-aristocracy' of the upper classes, most men in the western regions of the empire seem to have married in their late twenties, with modes perhaps in the range 27/28 to 30.47 If the data and the arguments made so far on the age at first marriage of males and females are combined, some of the following characteristics of family formation in the western empire seem to emerge. First, girls tended to marry in their late teens, though perhaps in some cases at very young ages; that is to say, a wider range of ages at first marriage, with some marriages taking place at rather young ages, seems to have been part of the overall pattern for women (this much being 'guaranteed' by the Christian sample). Men, on the other hand, tended to begin marrying in their mid to late twenties.
- SeptimiaStratonice was a free woman plying a trade not considered women's work even today. Her funerary monument testifies that she was a shoemaker (sutrix) in the harbor town of Ostia between the 1st-2nd centuries CE. On the left side of what remains of her marble tombstone she is pictured in a niche beside her epitaph. Dressed in a simple belted ankle-length tunic and seated sideways in a low round-backed chair (see another solium in this shop relief and replica), she holds out in her right hand a shoe last, a wooden mold (forma) around which dampened leather was shaped in preparation for making a shoe. In return for her unnamed good services to him, Stratonice was given (donatione) a share by Marcus Acilius in his son's burial place and monument. Septimia's name indicates that she was a freed slave (see Roman nomenclature; from the mid-first century CE on, non-imperial freedpersons increasingly omitted their status indication). She and the dedicator bear the gens names of noble families prominent in Ostia and Rome, the imperial Septimii and the consular Acilii. Acilius refers to Stratonice as his carissimaamica (see also Maria Auxesis in the World of Flirtation), a term that signifies more than a patronus-cliens relationship, but is otherwise ambiguous. Was she a close associate or a mistress? Furthermore, his generous burial of her in his family tomb is an odd gesture if she was not the boy's mother. It is ironic that the portion of the monument which may have contained Acilius' son's portrait is lost.
- NoniaPelagia, wife of PubliusNoniusZethus, a baker and Augustalis, is commemorated on this communal monument in the shape of a marble sarcophagus with hollows on top for eight cinerary urns. It was commissioned by her husband and inscribed in front for himself, his wife, his fellow freedwoman NoniaHilara, with the name PubliusNonius Heraclius added below (all freed by the same master, PubliusNonius). On either side of the inscription are scenes from the bakery where they all worked: a millstone and implements. 1st Century CE. From Ostia (CIL 14.393-4). Rome, Vatican Museums
- From Tomb 90 Isola Sacra
- Funerary relief Isola Sacra 2nd half of 2nd century
- The inscription at Ostia about the local magistrate, Hostilianus, reads as follows: QUI PRIMUS OM[NI]UM AB URBE CONDITA LUDUS CUM [--] OR ET MULIERES [A]D FERRUM DEDIT, which translates as “[Hostilianus] was the first since the city was founded...to set women fighting”2 (Vesley, 1998, p. 91). The inscription is believed to date from the third century A.D., meaning that female gladiatorial fights did not end with Septimius Severus’ ban of A.D. 200; furthermore, the diction used is important as “these were ‘women’ (mulieres), not ‘ladies’ (feminae)” competing in a legitimate event because “the wording does not betray any parody” (Coleman, 2000, p. 498).
- Doctor, heavily draped, she is pictured with a small box in her right hand on a limestone funeral stele (damaged). The upper part of the inscription is missing; the letters remaining are: [probably her father's name]INI FIL[ia] MEDICA. Gallo-Roman, from Ste. Segolene, 2nd/3rd century CE. CIL 13.4334. Metz, Musee de la Cour d'Or.Doctor/Pharmacist is pictured in a niche on a limestone stele, sitting with a book under her hand on her left knee, her foot raised on a footstool, at the center of a workshop (pharmacy? factory for glass/soap?). Behind her is a shelf of round objects; a female worker stands, adding material to a vat. Beside her stands a smaller woman stirring a mixture in a vat with a figured implement (caduceus?) over a low heater; on the other side liquid is distilling into vats. Probably part of a larger tomb, since there is no inscription. Roman Gaul. 2nd century CE. Epinal (France), Musee d'art ancien et contemporain
- Both have senatorial connectionsFaltoniasuppsoedly saved her husband by intervening w Constantius. As a Christian convert she wrote a poem.After her conversion, around 362,[6] Proba composed a Christian epic poem, the Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi, also known as De laudibus Christi.The poem is a Virgilian cento, a patchwork of verses extracted from several works of Virgil, with minimal modifications (in this case, with the introduction of Biblical names).She knew Virgil's poems quite well and memorized most of them. She devised a scheme one day that the history of the Bible could be compiled in a pleasant easy to read verse. She researched Bucolics, the Georgics, and the Aeneid. She would then mix various lines from each with great care and skill to complete a story. They were done expertly following all the rules of meter and the respect of verse that a connoisseur had trouble detecting the scheme. The resulting cento presents the Biblical story from the creation of the world up to the coming of the Holy Spirit by using 694 lines from Virgil. This poem was declared apocryphal (not heretic, but also not allowed to be read in public) by Pope Gelasius I and is her only surviving work. She also wrote a Homeric cento with verses taken from Homer that basically followed the same scheme. She was skilled in both the Greek and Latin languages.The 694 lines are divided into a proemium with invocation (lines 1-55), episodes from the Old Testament (lines 56-345), episodes from the New Testament (lines 346-688) and the end.
- All mothers are freed womenClaudia is listed as a contributor to a fund to celebrate birthdays of membersDomitia statue of AttisIscantia contributed to a temple – her plaque is in the Temple of Bellona
- Endymion sarcophagus, Mid-Imperial, Severan, early 3rd century A.D.RomanMarbleEndymion spent the day hunting. At nightfall he sank into a deep sleep in the mountain wilder- ness. Selene, the Moon, driving her course across the sky in her chariot, noticed the sleeper and, fascinated by his beauty, turned her steeds down- ward to the earth. With a kiss she awakened Endymion and with her love endowed him with the eternal life of the gods.An inscription at the center of the lid informs us that this trough-shaped sarcophagus was dedicated to a woman named Arria, who lived fifty years and ten months, by her AninaHilaria. Arria's matronly looking portrait is carved just to the right of the inscription. The story of Endymion is shown in daringly undercut high relief on the front of the sarcophagusdaughter. In the center, the moon goddess Selene alights from her chariot to visit her beloved, the shepherd Endymion, who reclines at the right. Endymion, most beautiful of men, has been granted eternal youth and eternal sleep; a female figure stands over him pouring out the magic potion of immortality and holding a bunch of sleep-inducing poppies. The scene is flanked on the left end of the sarcophagus by a rising Helios, the sun god, and on the right by a descending Selene, each in a chariot. On the back, a bucolic scene with herdsmen among grazing bulls and unyoked horses is cut in low relief. At once flamboyant and precise, the workmanship of the sarcophagus represents the peak of Antonine-Severan technical mastery. Allusions to the changeless cycle of nature form the background for a myth of fulfillment through unending sleep.
- Hair style of Julia Domna the wife of the emperor Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211). J