If we want to find out more information about the role of women in ancient Rome, what it was like for wealthy women, poor women, to get by in society, how prominent could they be? I can't think of anyone better to turn to than Doctor Marilyn Skinner, Professor Emerita of the Department of Classics of the University of Arizona. Anytime you spend with her is well worth the visit, and you'll learn a lot. >> My name is Marilyn Skinner, I'm professor of Classics Emerita at University of Arizona. Assuming power after a century of civil war, Augustus, in 27 BCE, the first emperor of Rome, undertook a mission to restore public trust, reform the morals of upper class society, and bring back the piety of an earlier, happier time. Promotion of domesticity was central to this project. Through legislation put forth in 18 BCE and again in 9 CE, he encouraged the practice of child rearing. He also negatively imposed sanctions on those of the upper classes who were celibate and those who committed adultery. Now on the positive side, ideological messages were communicated through literature and through the visual arts. One of the familiar iconographic and literary themes of art of this period is the idea of a Golden Age. The coming Golden Age of peace and prosperity. Images of prosperity may be balanced by the warning that it will take constant struggle. In fact, Virgil in the Georgics, warns that relentless labor has overcome all. But nevertheless, the idea of a promised Golden Age permeates contemporary Roman art. One of the most representative monuments of the time is the Arapakis, built between 13 and 9 BCE. Commissioned by the senate in order to celebrate Augustus' return home after triumphant victories abroad. The Arapakis is the most representative monument of the period. With it's decorative motifs of garlands and bucrania, symbols of sacrifice, and it's luxuriant vegetative imagery of vines, tendrils, branches and flowers. The alter complex is itself a testimonial to the productivity of the land and it's people under the imperial order. Emblematic of this promise of future blessings is the richly allegorical panel of peace or mother earth, the identity of the figures disputed on the south east side of precinct wall. A mature deity sits on a rocky throne embracing two chubby infants who reach up towards her breasts. Fruits lie on her lap, grain, poppies, and reeds grow beside her. At her feet are an ox and a sheep and personifications of favoring breezes, there are garments billowing in the wind surround her. Whoever this mother goddess is, it is noteworthy that she is depicted with the sensual qualities of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Her garment slips from the one shoulder, in the same way that the garment of Aphrodite on the Parthenon slips from hers. This is a classic representation then, a signal, that she is to be viewed in part with the attributes of Venus. And her breasts, which are prominent, are outlined by her very transparent dress. One nipple is just vaguely visible, and the same drapery is Drawn very tightly across her abdomen. This is adult female sexuality. It is openly being celebrated but it is celebrated because it is being put to good use in procreation and fertility. Augustus had no sons and only one daughter, Julia. His female kin were consequently called upon to provide him with male heirs. Being crucial to the legitimate transmission of his legacy, Augustus' wife, sister and daughter assumed great significance in the political sphere. Livia his wife, became the key figure, linking Augustus Julian family and the eminent Claudian clan, when in 4 CE, the ruler adopted his stepson, Tiberius, her son by a previous marriage to Tiberius Claudius Nero, as his own son and ultimate successor. Livia had already been the recipient of earlier public honors, and had played a key part in sponsoring religious cults for married women. Thus assuming the informal role of mother of the Roman state. Because of her dynastic position as sole link between her husband and her son, she now had to be included in all monuments to the imperial family. When Tiberius became emperor in 14 CE, representations of Livia multiplied, showing her in sacerdotal dress as the priestess of the newly deified Augustus. And investing her with the tokens of human divinities, particularly Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. That association continued the theme of prosperity and abundance, first sounded under Augustus' reign. And also accentuated her maternal honors, assuring the propriety of Tiberius succession. Public recognition of her dynastic consequence set the pattern then for the subsequent use of female members of the imperial household in statuary and reliefs and especially on coins as markers of the vitality of the ruling house and the domestic program of the emperor. Conservative qualms about showing women, who were traditionally identified with the private sphere in state-sponsored art were alleviated, not only by stressing their domestic roles, but also by assimilating them through personifications, such as Concordia or harmony. And divinities who oversee the performance of female duties. Thus, the Imperial woman is a presence in official Roman art, not as an individual historical subject, but as a sign of familial and reproductive concern. How did Augustus feel about women? If they conformed to his expectations of what a Roman matron should be, then he probably approved of them wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, his daughter, Julia, rebelled against all of this domesticity. And allegedly became notorious for her adulteries. This ultimately led to Augustus exiling her to an island. Augustus frequently said that he had two wayward daughters. Rome and Julia. As a modern woman, I can't help but feel sorry for Julia, because she was so much the poster child of the imperial succession, and of the imperial family. She was married three times, not of her own choice. Her first husband died. Her second husband also died. And the third husband was Tiberius, whom she did not get along with at all. In fact the two of them were totally incompatible. So Julia's private life, as opposed to her public life, but her private life was really disastrous. What opportunities were there for women under the Roman Empire? If you were a wealthy woman, a woman of means and you were a widow, for example, there was a great deal that women could do. Women could promote the careers of their sons and they could do this, for example, by constructing public buildings, like Yumacia of Pompey did. Women could be very, very prominent in religion and in the domestic sphere. And even in business, insofar as they administered, very often, they administered the holdings that would pass on to their sons and daughters. But for a woman who was not a member of the wealthy elite, I think that circumstances were usually very, very hard. So the whole, when we talk about the important and highly visible women of Rome, we must keep in mind that we are not talking about ordinary, middle-class, working-class women, or about slaves. We are talking just about a few very fortunate women. I would like to see research continue, especially in gender roles, because we're finding out that gender roles were actually very, very nuanced, and very, very differentiated for different classes of women and for different ethnicities, different ethnic groups of women. The other thing I would like to see is much more work on Roman sexuality as it applied to women. Because we are beginning to understand Roman male conceptions of women's sexuality. But, since we don't have women themselves giving us any testimony, we need to be very careful in handling the evidence. And when we see these media representations of over-sexed and bold and imperious and ruthless women of the upper class, such as, for example, HBO's Rome. We have to keep in mind that stereotype is derived from propaganda against the menfolk of these women. If you could not keep your women folk in line, you were not suited to govern Rome. So that is why a lot of these slanders arose, and the perpetuation of that stereotype is really doing a disservice to the very positive qualities of Roman women. [MUSIC]
