Roman historian specializing on Roman imperial history, including women's history, topography of Rome, and historiography. Address: Durham, United States
Discussion of Domitia Longina, who survived allegations of adultery, Domitian’s divorce and (re)m... more Discussion of Domitia Longina, who survived allegations of adultery, Domitian’s divorce and (re)marriage, and his assassination, opens this chapter on imperial women and Roman law. Moving from Ulpian’s statement about legal rights and privileges of emperors and the Augusta, it covers norms and regulations for imperial women’s sexuality, particularly marriage and divorce, as well as crimes and punishments of imperial women, including the adultery cases and sentences of Julia the Elder in 2 BCE and Julia the Younger in 8 CE that Tacitus obliquely ties to treason. Reviewing finally imperial women’s fates at the deaths of their husband or other relative as emperor, the chapter concludes that inclusion in the imperial family brought women greater liability, but no immunity or impunity.
Livia’s involvement in the case of L. Piso against Urgulania opens this investigation into the po... more Livia’s involvement in the case of L. Piso against Urgulania opens this investigation into the powers imperial women were granted or thought to enjoy. Context is set by comparing women considered powerful in the Republic, foreign queens, and the few non-imperial elite women noted in Rome of the principate. Historiography reflects the customs and laws affecting Roman women generally, including prohibition from politics, the military, and legal advocacy for another; patria potestas; and tutela mulierum. Although imperial women usually controlled their own financial resources, such as brickyards, dwellings, and patronage, their self-restraint and modesty were ideals, as seen in the Senatus Consultum de Pisone patre. Octavia and Livia received special grants in 35 BCE; Livia, more honors in 9 BCE, and more in 14 CE, including the title Augusta. The chapter concludes that imperial women had no institutional powers after these early exceptional dispensations accorded to Octavia and Livia.
Roman authorities sanctioning population transfers of free non-Romans into Roman territory are at... more Roman authorities sanctioning population transfers of free non-Romans into Roman territory are attested but eight times 180 BCE - ca. 70 CE. The literary and epigraphic evidence poorly attests the transfers but instructively links them to Roman competition for glory. The investigation also illuminates demographic and geopolitical issues.
Transactions of the American Philological Association, 2011
... Even before the end of the first century CE Pliny the Younger describes the galleries of the ... more ... Even before the end of the first century CE Pliny the Younger describes the galleries of the Basilica Iulia as lined with men and women intent on the events transpiring in the centumviral court below, an "evil stepmother" case (Ep. 6.33). ... Alexandridis, A. 2004. ...
The extant evidence for imperial women reveals their general powerlessness and silence, starkly c... more The extant evidence for imperial women reveals their general powerlessness and silence, starkly contrasting with anecdotes about their abuse of resources, influence, and privilege. Their relation to the emperor put them at the center of power, yet their gender, and the princeps’ dominance, prohibited them from exercising control. At the principate’s beginning, some disclosed their resources through patronage or personal adornment. Such displays were increasingly censured. Imperial women’s diminishing visibility in Rome, including at religious functions, paradoxically correlates with their increasing portrayal on central coinage. Although their roles in Rome’s imperial cult had positive effects for women in the empire, their own gains are harder to detect and their personal agency cannot be discerned in the available sources. Their investigation, however, uncovers a remarkable history that illuminates individuals and the principate as a whole, including its obstinate misogyny.
Agrippina’s public veneration by conquered Britons outside Rome’s Praetorian camp opens this chap... more Agrippina’s public veneration by conquered Britons outside Rome’s Praetorian camp opens this chapter about the imprint imperial women made on the city of Rome through their movements and presence, and through enduring monuments and statues, whether dedicated by or to them but carrying their names and memory. Imperial women’s public presence in Rome generally is poorly documented, with Agrippina and Livia the most frequently recorded, and at times controversial, especially for Octavia and Livia. The women’s public activities and visibility are discussed thematically (e.g., appearances in funerals and triumphs); their monuments by location. The evidence helps personalize individual women, hinting at their lives and reception, even as the evaluation contributes to the “spatial” study of Roman history and archaeology. Over the centuries imperial women evidently had diminishing visibility in Rome, in contrast to their apparently increasing prominence elsewhere, as Plotina in Athens.
1. Rome and its peoples 2. Gauls, Celts, Germans, and other 'northerners' 3. The Greeks, ... more 1. Rome and its peoples 2. Gauls, Celts, Germans, and other 'northerners' 3. The Greeks, different yet alike 4. Egypt and Egyptians in Roman imagination and life 5. The Jews - political, social, or religious threat, or no threat at all? 6. Christians, a new people 7. Rome's peoples and Rome.
This chapter poses the central question: If the Roman princeps was first among equals, what posit... more This chapter poses the central question: If the Roman princeps was first among equals, what position and visibility did an imperial woman have? The chapter provides some fundamental definitions, including of “imperial woman,” Augusta, and principate, and points to the laws and customs inhibiting Roman women’s activities and choices. It substantiates the importance of women for the imperial image, for legitimacy in the principate, and for the imperial court. After laying out the general plan of the book, the chapter points out deficiencies and biases of the evidence, especially of Tacitus and other literary sources, and clarifies how the book references inscriptions, coins, and other ancient material. Guidance is given for names, locations, and the like.
Beginning with the extraordinary military associations of Julia Domna, Julia Maesa, Julia Soaemia... more Beginning with the extraordinary military associations of Julia Domna, Julia Maesa, Julia Soaemias, and Julia Mamaea, this chapter explores the interrelated themes of imperial women’s reported links with Rome’s military, and the issue of their movements abroad. Despite the constant pronounced bias against any woman mixing with Rome’s armed forces or provincial administration, women are sporadically but ever more attested in military settings such as camps and barracks, and even in armed conflict. This applies to non-imperial as well as imperial women, as is clear from archaeology and documentation. By the time of Domna and other Severans, women accompanied the imperial entourage unchallenged, even if decried by authors. The growing ritual of the imperial court, the increasing importance of the imperial family as a whole, and the mounting necessity for the emperor to inspect provinces and armies personally encouraged imperial women to travel more as the principate evolved.
Discussion of Domitia Longina, who survived allegations of adultery, Domitian’s divorce and (re)m... more Discussion of Domitia Longina, who survived allegations of adultery, Domitian’s divorce and (re)marriage, and his assassination, opens this chapter on imperial women and Roman law. Moving from Ulpian’s statement about legal rights and privileges of emperors and the Augusta, it covers norms and regulations for imperial women’s sexuality, particularly marriage and divorce, as well as crimes and punishments of imperial women, including the adultery cases and sentences of Julia the Elder in 2 BCE and Julia the Younger in 8 CE that Tacitus obliquely ties to treason. Reviewing finally imperial women’s fates at the deaths of their husband or other relative as emperor, the chapter concludes that inclusion in the imperial family brought women greater liability, but no immunity or impunity.
Livia’s involvement in the case of L. Piso against Urgulania opens this investigation into the po... more Livia’s involvement in the case of L. Piso against Urgulania opens this investigation into the powers imperial women were granted or thought to enjoy. Context is set by comparing women considered powerful in the Republic, foreign queens, and the few non-imperial elite women noted in Rome of the principate. Historiography reflects the customs and laws affecting Roman women generally, including prohibition from politics, the military, and legal advocacy for another; patria potestas; and tutela mulierum. Although imperial women usually controlled their own financial resources, such as brickyards, dwellings, and patronage, their self-restraint and modesty were ideals, as seen in the Senatus Consultum de Pisone patre. Octavia and Livia received special grants in 35 BCE; Livia, more honors in 9 BCE, and more in 14 CE, including the title Augusta. The chapter concludes that imperial women had no institutional powers after these early exceptional dispensations accorded to Octavia and Livia.
Roman authorities sanctioning population transfers of free non-Romans into Roman territory are at... more Roman authorities sanctioning population transfers of free non-Romans into Roman territory are attested but eight times 180 BCE - ca. 70 CE. The literary and epigraphic evidence poorly attests the transfers but instructively links them to Roman competition for glory. The investigation also illuminates demographic and geopolitical issues.
Transactions of the American Philological Association, 2011
... Even before the end of the first century CE Pliny the Younger describes the galleries of the ... more ... Even before the end of the first century CE Pliny the Younger describes the galleries of the Basilica Iulia as lined with men and women intent on the events transpiring in the centumviral court below, an "evil stepmother" case (Ep. 6.33). ... Alexandridis, A. 2004. ...
The extant evidence for imperial women reveals their general powerlessness and silence, starkly c... more The extant evidence for imperial women reveals their general powerlessness and silence, starkly contrasting with anecdotes about their abuse of resources, influence, and privilege. Their relation to the emperor put them at the center of power, yet their gender, and the princeps’ dominance, prohibited them from exercising control. At the principate’s beginning, some disclosed their resources through patronage or personal adornment. Such displays were increasingly censured. Imperial women’s diminishing visibility in Rome, including at religious functions, paradoxically correlates with their increasing portrayal on central coinage. Although their roles in Rome’s imperial cult had positive effects for women in the empire, their own gains are harder to detect and their personal agency cannot be discerned in the available sources. Their investigation, however, uncovers a remarkable history that illuminates individuals and the principate as a whole, including its obstinate misogyny.
Agrippina’s public veneration by conquered Britons outside Rome’s Praetorian camp opens this chap... more Agrippina’s public veneration by conquered Britons outside Rome’s Praetorian camp opens this chapter about the imprint imperial women made on the city of Rome through their movements and presence, and through enduring monuments and statues, whether dedicated by or to them but carrying their names and memory. Imperial women’s public presence in Rome generally is poorly documented, with Agrippina and Livia the most frequently recorded, and at times controversial, especially for Octavia and Livia. The women’s public activities and visibility are discussed thematically (e.g., appearances in funerals and triumphs); their monuments by location. The evidence helps personalize individual women, hinting at their lives and reception, even as the evaluation contributes to the “spatial” study of Roman history and archaeology. Over the centuries imperial women evidently had diminishing visibility in Rome, in contrast to their apparently increasing prominence elsewhere, as Plotina in Athens.
1. Rome and its peoples 2. Gauls, Celts, Germans, and other 'northerners' 3. The Greeks, ... more 1. Rome and its peoples 2. Gauls, Celts, Germans, and other 'northerners' 3. The Greeks, different yet alike 4. Egypt and Egyptians in Roman imagination and life 5. The Jews - political, social, or religious threat, or no threat at all? 6. Christians, a new people 7. Rome's peoples and Rome.
This chapter poses the central question: If the Roman princeps was first among equals, what posit... more This chapter poses the central question: If the Roman princeps was first among equals, what position and visibility did an imperial woman have? The chapter provides some fundamental definitions, including of “imperial woman,” Augusta, and principate, and points to the laws and customs inhibiting Roman women’s activities and choices. It substantiates the importance of women for the imperial image, for legitimacy in the principate, and for the imperial court. After laying out the general plan of the book, the chapter points out deficiencies and biases of the evidence, especially of Tacitus and other literary sources, and clarifies how the book references inscriptions, coins, and other ancient material. Guidance is given for names, locations, and the like.
Beginning with the extraordinary military associations of Julia Domna, Julia Maesa, Julia Soaemia... more Beginning with the extraordinary military associations of Julia Domna, Julia Maesa, Julia Soaemias, and Julia Mamaea, this chapter explores the interrelated themes of imperial women’s reported links with Rome’s military, and the issue of their movements abroad. Despite the constant pronounced bias against any woman mixing with Rome’s armed forces or provincial administration, women are sporadically but ever more attested in military settings such as camps and barracks, and even in armed conflict. This applies to non-imperial as well as imperial women, as is clear from archaeology and documentation. By the time of Domna and other Severans, women accompanied the imperial entourage unchallenged, even if decried by authors. The growing ritual of the imperial court, the increasing importance of the imperial family as a whole, and the mounting necessity for the emperor to inspect provinces and armies personally encouraged imperial women to travel more as the principate evolved.
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