Occupation of Women in the Roman Empire. Epigraphic Evidence from the City of Rome (1th Century BC - 2nd Century AD) Cover Image

Povolania žien v Rímskej ríši. Epigrafické pramene z mesta Rím (1. storočie pred Kr. – 2. storočie)
Occupation of Women in the Roman Empire. Epigraphic Evidence from the City of Rome (1th Century BC - 2nd Century AD)

Author(s): Daniela Rošková
Subject(s): Local History / Microhistory, Ancient World
Published by: VERBUM - vydavateľstvo Katolíckej univerzity v Ružomberku
Keywords: Roman Empire; occupations; women; inscriptions; slaves; freedwomen;

Summary/Abstract: Information about employment and occupations in the Roman Empire can be obtained only partially, due to the limited focus of sources on this subject. Literary sources rarely mention physical work and those who performed it. The paper introduces the type of source that covers this topic best – funerary inscriptions. Epitaphs serve as an irreplaceable, and in many cases the only, source of information about the various occupations held by representatives of the middle and lower classes in the Roman Empire. Many tombstones of citizens, slaves, and freed slaves – men, women and children – have been preserved. The aim of this paper is to present specifically the occupations of women preserved on funerary inscriptions from the city of Rome and to introduce concrete, otherwise nameless persons never mentioned in other sources. The analysis is based on inscriptions from the city of Rome, set in the time of the late Republic and the early Roman Principate (1st century BC – 2nd century AD). The paper addresses concrete inscriptions dedicated to working women, or inscriptions that the employed women made, together with their analysis and translation. The paper can also be used as a source book on the topic of women’s professions.

  • Issue Year: 11/2020
  • Issue No: Supplement
  • Page Range: 65-104
  • Page Count: 40
  • Language: Slovak