Lecture Notes on Formal Assessment and Women in Antiquity
Formal Assessment: Commentaries and Essays
The formal assessment involves two parts:
Two commentaries based on selecting two items out of four provided prompts, images, and texts (available in a PDF).
One essay connecting the two selected items with further evidence.
There is a word minimum but no word maximum.
Gender and Class in Antiquity
Consider the constructiveness of gender identity, particularly in relation to class.
Experiences of women varied significantly based on socioeconomic status. It's not a monolithic category.
Classification and gender socialization are intricately linked, notably in the context of enslavement.
Women's Identity and Legitimacy
Women's identity was often defined through their relationship to male figures: father, husband, or son.
Marriage, especially, solidified the importance of the husband in defining a woman's identity.
Symbols of legitimacy were seen through representations of women writing.
Stratification in the Household
Elite households often depicted the mother observing the labor performed by enslaved women.
The musculature and effort of enslaved women performing tasks like washing babies were emphasized.
Attendance and service were key aspects of enslaved women's roles.
Youth of enslaved women were often spent in feminized spaces.
Documentary Evidence: Letters from Mothers
Letters from mothers to children (or about children) offer documentary evidence beyond idealizations.
These letters reveal concerns about injury and the difficult decisions mothers faced, such as giving up a child due to the death of a husband and resulting inability to care for her.
Identity and Enslavement
Inscriptions often focus on the male freedman, with the identities of women presumed and absorbed into his.
The ability to reproduce legitimately and continue one's line was a significant point of pride for freed people.
Enslaved Women in Literature
Enslaved women, such as Skibali and the sex worker in plays, were represented in literature.
These characters highlight the presence and roles of enslaved women, even in broader narratives about freedom and enslavement.
Enslaved women are also portrayed presenting themselves and their skill of literacy as they seek help from others to correct their situations.
Inscriptions and Commemoration
Inscriptions counting women for funerary commemorations offer another type of evidence.
These inscriptions reveal aspects of life and death for women in Rome, including disabled women.
Expectations of Women in Antiquity
Patellas:
Remembered that he represents himself as being kind of countercultural to the aristocratic interests.
There is a particular severity for woman life.
Figures like Ovid are the example of elite men who reject that kind of status claim and want to have a different kind of life, but the kind of life that they just end up describing is still somewhat objectifying.
If they want a sex life, they still end up being quite aggressive to sexual partners, for instance.
Latin love poetry:
Written alongside severe treatises, illustrating that not everyone adhered to cultural severity.
Often dramatizes relationships with married, elite women, offering a countercultural perspective.
Some of Catullus' poetry, despite being countercultural, leans back into social conservatism.
Catullus has sex with both men and women.
Marriage and Virginity:
When she's right for marriage, she enters into wedlock, she's ever dear to her husband unless represented by her parents.
Do not reject such a husband, little girl. It's not right to reject the man whom your father and mother gave you. You must obey them.
Virginity is not entirely yours. One third of it belongs to your father, one third to your mother, and only one third yourself.
Don't fight against your parents who have surrendered to your your husband's adultery and their rights over you.
Women still were expected to be given consent, and they did have options of divorce virginity is something that is a possession is construction that virginity is something that is a possession.
Pliny's Letter: The Death of a Young Maiden
Pliny writes with a heavy heart about the death of a friend's younger daughter.
She was not yet 13, but was seen as having the qualities of a matron and the modesty of an unmarried woman.
Matrona (Latin) signifies not just a mother (mater), but an honored mother of the household with dignity, forbearance, and an ethical component.
It represents a gendered expectation and idealized path for women, mirroring the elite role of men (pater).
Inscription: Minikea Marchella
The inscription and funeral altar for Minikea Marchella, the woman in Pliny's letter, actually exist.
The inscription reads: "To the divine spirit of Minikea Marchella, daughter of Fundanas, who lived twelve years, eleven months, and seven days."
Unlike Pliny's idealized script, the inscription emphasizes her youth and the connection to her father.
The mention of the father is crucial for identifying the person.
Her thirteenth year would have been significant as it marked the beginning of her adult life and potential marriage.
Gender Roles and Morality
Valerius Maximus' Memorable Deeds and Morse presents moral lessons through historical figures.
The story of Tartia Aemilia, wife of Scipio Africanus, illustrates celebrated moral behavior: her tolerating her husband's sexual attention towards a little slave girl.
The wife is expected to bear the burden of chastity, while Scipio is free to engage in sexual relationships with enslaved women.
The wife is expected not to make charges against her husband.
Inscriptions of Freed People
Inscriptions offer a different perspective, emphasizing the dignity of individuals.
Example: inscription to Italia, dressmaker of Platyrophilus, who lived twenty years. It was cast for grout that will say I paid for this tombstone because she was poor.
Freed people often continued the same labor as when they were enslaved but had access to more resources.
Inscriptions of freed people provide more detailed information compared to those of enslaved individuals.
They include names, relationships, and occupations.
The inscription of Italia, Dress Maker of Cochaeophilus. She lived twenty years. I cast this for grout that will say I paid for this tombstone because she was poor.