Cities of Vesuvius Flashcards
Survey: Geographical Setting and Natural Features of Campania
- Describe the Geographical Setting and Natural features of Campania.
- Herculaneum is 7km south of Mt Vesuvius
- Pompeii is 10km northwest to Mt Vesuvius
- Mt Vesuvius - part of a chain of volcanoes that erupted more than 70 times since 79AD.
- Geologically unstable (why?)
There were steam geysers, thermal springs and coastline and periodic tremors. - Both Cities are elevated due to ancient lava flows
- Coastline of the Bay of Naples
- Climate was hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters.
Survey: Resources of Campania
hint: how did this benefit on Campania - economically and economy?
- Fertile soil due to volcanic activity
- Had plenty of wheat, barley and vegetables
- Large cultivation of grapevines and wine production. This was important to the local economy. (Wine was used often for trade - sold in Ceramic jars found in UK - evidence of benefits to the economy)
- In rockier areas of Campania, olives were grown and olive oil was made demonstrated by the Amphorae found in Pompeii - both oil and wine was found) evidence of oil pressers were also found.)
- Local clay was used to make terracotta Amphorae.
- Local sand was also mixed with lime to make cement.
- Grazing lands for sheep and goats raised for meat, milk, skins and wool.
Rich marine resources supported a thriving fish and shellfish industry - production of Garum (fermented fish sauce) - evidence of trade as garum was found in other countries. very beneficial to the economy. - Salt was also produced by the evaporation of shallow pools of sea water and used to preserve food.
- volcanic stone (pumice exported) lava was used in stone millstones for grinding grain and pressing olives.
- tufa was used for buildings and roads.
Survey: Eruption of AD 79 Mt Vesuvius and its impact on P + H
Question: How did the Eruption impact P + H. Describe the events of the Eruption and explain how it impacted Campania.
Describe the different impact the Eruption had on Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Eruption of Vesuvius:
A 7.5 earthquake and tremors in the cities of Vesuvius occurred in AD 62, causing significant damage and led to the eruption in AD 79.
However, locals were not aware of volcanic activity, meaning they were unprepared when the eruption occurred.
The eruption of Mt Vesuvius occurred approximately around 24th of August AD 79.
The record of the AD79 eruption of Mt Vesuvius originates from Pliny the Younger’s account
o Pliny’s letter says nothing about the volcano’s impact on Pompeii and no literary record of this aspect of the disaster exists
Pliny the Younger’s account of the AD 79 eruption of Mt Vesuvius is the most notable contemporary account. He recounts –
o Movement of the ground
o Receding of the sea
o Cloud hanging above the volcano
o Events as inhabitants fled and were overcome by the cloud (mushroom cloud)
Archaeologists and vulcanologists inform that –
o When Vesuvius erupted, most of the contents settled in and around Pompeii
o It fell in two layers
Layer 1: Pumice stone, which piled up to a height of 2-3 metres
Layer 2: Ash, that rose to a height of 2.5 metres
Main Features of the Eruption of Vesuvius:
- First Phase
Late morning featured the appearance of an umbrella shaped cloud of ash, pumice and gases with the initial explosion
- some people fled Pompeii, whilst others took shelter.
Over the afternoon, pumice and ash continued to drop with more intensity. Build-up caused roofs to collapse
- Second Phase
Overnight and into the second day, various surges deposit ash and cause intense heat in Pompeii and Vesuvius, burying the buildings in Ash.
Main Phases of the Eruption
The first phase was known as the Plinian phase (named after Pliny the younger as he witness the eruption)
The eruption spread in the atmosphere and as a result, the eruption produced a rain of pumice, ash and gas.
The first phase produced massive mushroom clouds of volcanic ash.
The plinian eruption lasted around 18 hours.
The plinian column was around 30km high into the sky.
In this phase around 2.5 metres of white pumice stones fell onto Pompeii followed by another 1.1-1.3 metres of denser grey pumice.
The pumice deposits were the main cause of shielding and preserving the city from the effects of the pyroclastic flow that followed.
The second phase was known as the Peléan phase (derived from the name of Mount Pelée on the island of Martinique, where the phenomenon of pyroclastic flow was first documented in a 1902 eruption.
This phase generated pyroclastic surges and flows
The pyroclastic flows of the Peléan phase at Pompeii were the primary cause of volcanic damage to walls
Pyroclastic flows: (Material flowed down the sides of the volcano as fast-moving avalanches of gas and dust.)
Pyroclasts are rock fragments formed by a volcanic explosion or ejected from a volcanic vent.
The second phase was much more damaging to the city.
Pyroclastic Flow: A hot, chaotic avalanche of pumice, ash, and gasses. Pyroclastic flows can move at high speeds along the ground and pass over substantial obstacles.
Pyroclastic Surge: composed of billowing ash and superheated gases (about 100–400 degrees Celsius) travelling at about 200 kilometres an hour Surge deposits are more widely distributed than pyroclastic flow deposits
Impact:
Thousands of people died from asphyxiation, hit my molten rock/pumice and thermal shock
Positions of bodies fixed by sudden deflation of ash bed that cooled and hardened, preserving bodies in a life-like original stance
Pyroclastic surges buried the city up to 23m deep, destroyed buildings and carbonised timber + other organic matter
Coastline extended by about 400m
How Pompeii was Impacted
More grey pumice fell before three more superheated avalanches hit in short succession, devastating Pompeii and covering the whole town. Because the town’s buildings interrupted the various flows, the layers of debris were not as dense in the inhabited areas as in the countryside.
As at Herculaneum, people would have suffered a speedy death by asphyxiation or thermal shock
How Herculaneum was impacted
Herculaneum was upwind of Mt Vesuvius, therefore the pumice fall in the first few hours of the eruption was moderately light. However, Herculaneum bore the full brunt of the succession of pyroclastic surges. The first reached temperatures of over 400 C and would have instantaneously killed all the inhabitants of Herculaneum. Subsequent surges and flows destroyed buildings and carbonised organic Matter. Herc’s coastline was extended by 400 m .
Those who died during the surge, either by asphyxiation, thermal shock or struck down by projectiles carried in the surge clouds, were entombed by the flow shortly after.
Survey: Eruption of Mt Vesuvius -SOURCES
Seneca the Younger wrote an account of the earthquake in the sixth book of his
Naturales Quaestiones.
(“Pompeii, so they tell me, has collapsed in an earthquake…it was on the 5th of February in 62 that this earthquake devastated Campania.”)
(Marble relief of the Temple of Jupiter in the Forum at Pompeii. The relief seems to portray the temple tilted by the earthquake of 62 CE. From the lararium of the House of Caecilius Lacundus, Pompeii.)
Phases of the Eruption SOURCE
“I can best describe its shape by likening it to a pine tree.” Pliny the younger
“It rose into the sky on a very long “trunk” from which spread some branches.” Pliny 6.16
Timeline of the Eruption SOURCE
“He was at Misenum in his capacity as commander of the fleet on the 24th of August [sc. in 79 AD], when between 2 and 3 in the afternoon my mother drew his attention to a cloud of unusual size and appearance.” - Pliny the younger
NOTE: One of the most graphic examples of the power of the surge was the body of a woman, a thigh bone thrust up to her collar bone, with a smashed skull, crushed pelvis and lying on top of a few house tiles.
What does Pliny’s account reveal about the eruption (Letter 6.16) and the impact of the eruption (Letter 6.20)
“We also saw the sea sucked away and apparently forced back by the earthquake: at any rate it receded from the shore so that quantities of sea creatures were left stranded on dry sand.” Pliny, 6.20
“Ashes were already falling, not as yet very thickly. I looked round: a dense black cloud was coming up behind us, spreading over the earth like a flood.” Pliny, 6.20
“As a protection against falling objects they put pillows on their heads tied down with cloths.” Pliny 6.16
“You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices.” Pliny 6.20
Issues with Dating the Eruption:
The writing dated to 16 days before the “calends” of November in the old Roman calendar style - which is 17 October in our modern dating method
There has long been some speculation that the eruption happened later than August, particularly centred around evidence of autumnal fruits and heating braziers discovered in the ruins.
Survey: Early Discoveries and Changing nature of Excavations in the 19th and 20th centuries
Assess the impact.
Guiseppe Fiorelli: 19th Century (Directed Pompeii Excavation from 1863-1875)
- Pioneered the study of stratigraphy of the site
- initiated a system of top-down excavation of houses, preserving finds more effectively and enabling the restoration of buildings and their interiors.
Contribution:
- wrote a three-volume work entitled History of Pompeiian Antiques (1860-64)
- Studied materials and building methods
- Initiated the technique of making plaster casts of victims.
- intituted the system of regiones, insulae and domus.
August Mau: 19th and 20th Centuries
Contribution:
- Created the ‘four-style’ system for categorising frescoes, which is STILL used today.
The four style system:
- Incrustation Style (House of the Faun)
- Architectural Style (Villa of Mysteries)
- Ornate Style (House of Marcus Lucretius Fronto)
- Intricate Style (House of the Vetti)
Vittorio Spinazzola: 1910-1924
- Focused on the southern region of the city, including the amphitheatre and Via dell’Abbondanza
- was interested in discovering how the town was planned rather than simply excavating the site.
Contribution:
- Discovered many commercial enterprises such as the Fullery of Stephanus, inns and shops.
Amedeo Maiuri: 1924-1961 (Chief Archaeologist of Pompeii)
- Poineered the excavation BELOW the destruction level to investigate life before the eruption
Contribution:
- has advanced knowledge of the pre-eruption Pompeii.
Alfonso De Franciscis: 1964 (became director of excavations)
- Emphasised restoration of uncovered buildings.
Contribution:
- uncovered the House of C.Julius Polybius, the town house of M.Fabius Rufus and the Villa at Oplontis
Baldassare Conticello: 1984
- Undertook extensive and systematic restoration of buildings in Regio 1 and 2
Contribution:
- Excavated the House of the Chaste Lovers
Pietro Giovanni Guzzo: 1994 (became director of excavations)
- faced management and financial problems related to excavations and restoration
Contribution:
- excavated outside the Porta Stabia nad in Murecine, where the Hospiutium dei Supici has been uncovered.
Survey: Representations of Pompeii and Herculaneum Over Time
Question: How was P + H eruption and society represented over time?
NeoClassicism and Romanticism (18th and 19th Centuries)
- Neoclassicism was a movement in the decorative and visual arts, theatre, music and architecture that drew its inspiration from Ancient Greece and Rome.
- Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement characterised by its emphasis on emotion, imagination, individualism and glorification for the past and nature.
- Many artists and writers used the fate of Pompeii as a powerful metaphor for ‘deaths abrupt invasion’ and ‘universal extinction’ a didactic for God’s vengeance on the pagan people
- e.g the destruction of P + H artwork by JOHN MARITN 1822 shows people cowering in fear in a hellish environment.
- Puccini’s opera in the 19th CENTURY, “the last day of Pompeii” and its subsequent popular novel by Bulwer Lytton is an imaginative reconstruction of the human and social tragedy - dramatic, romantic illustration of the destruction of civilisation and self-preservation in grand Victorian Tradition.
20th and 21st Century Representations
- In the 20th and 21st century, the eruption continued to be sensationalised for its unique and extreme historical qualities, as a mix of fact and fiction. This was largely inspired by the drama and tragedy of the event.
Examples Include:
- 2014 film POMPEII - places a romance challenged by the drama and destruction of the event.
- 2003 novel by Robert Harris ‘Pompeii’ focuses on the event through the perspective of a Roman water engineer.
Investigating and Interpreting the sources for P + H
The ECONOMY: Role of the Forum
The forum: A chief meeting and trading place in the town.
Public Buildings- Associated with administration, religion and commerce (these were clustered in and around the forum)
Markets of the Forum were administered by aediles, whose job ensured that:
- the markets ran smoothly
- goods were measured and priced accurately
- quality was maintained
The owners of market gardens (translation: horti) within the city set up stalls for markets for goods.
Part of the Forum:
Mena Ponderaria (table of official weights and measurements)
- A bench with nine holes of varying sizes for different measured amounts
- Used by officials to supervise the accuracy of weights and measures used in the markets
Macellum
- A rectangular courtyard with a circular building or (tholos) in the centre
- Market stalls and shops on the north and south sides
- Its role: Market specialised in meats, fishes, fruits and vegetables
- fish bones were found in drains beneath the tholos - evidence + source
Forum Holitorium
- Located on the west side of the Forum
- Role: A warehouse market for cereals and pulses sold to individuals and bakeries
Building of Eumachia
- A large brick building with marble features
- Features a STATUE of Eumachia
- was a wool and cloth market.
ADD MORE! (FROM GOOGLE CLASSROOM)
Investigating and Interpreting the sources for P + H
The ECONOMY: Trade including overseas, imports and exports - link with natural resources in Survey
Overseas Trade:
Pompeii traded with other cities within Campania and the Italian Peninsula - (Amphorae, tile or fish container have been found beyond Italy)
source: Strabo states that Pompeii was a port for the towns of Nuceria and Nola, making it a trading centre - mostly for agricultural produce.
Imports:
- Varieties of wine from Spain, Sicily and Crete
- Pottery from Spain
- Furniture from nearby Naples, Lamps from Alexandria
- Tableware (terra sigillata) from Pueoli
- Tableware from northern Italy, southern Gaul and Cyprus (a chest containing a large number of unused bowls and lamps was found in a house in Region 8)
- Wine from Kos, Crete, Rhodes, Turkey, Sicily, Palestine and Central italy
- Olive oil from Libya and SPain
- Garum from Spain
Exports:
- It is unknown the extensiveness of their exports to other parts of the Roman Empire. Some scholars believe their export trade was minimal.
- A port was found less than 1km from the centre of the city with 20 warehouses - this was believed to be a trade point for items to be loaded and unloaded from ships.
However Some Exports include:
- Garum
- WIne (Pompeian wine has been found in the UK)
Investigating and Interpreting the sources for P + H
The ECONOMY: Commerce
While Pompeii was a bustling commercial centre, Herculaneum was more of a quiet resort/fishing town.
The commerce was based largely on agricultural production and fishing.
- Raw materials provided by farmsteads and villas that dotted the Sarno plain, and the market gardens (horti) within the walls of Pompeii (wine, olive oil, cereals, fruit, vegetables, meat and wool)
These industries spawned a hose of others such as pottery - terracotta and ceramic (dolia and amphorae) were needed for strage, trade in wine, oil and garum.
Dolia - used to store DRIES FOOD SUCH AS NUTES, GRAINS, DRIED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.
Facts to Learn:
- about 600 excavated privately owned shops, workshop bars and inns
- city controlled markets around the forum
- epigraphic evidence of a number fo tradesmen and retailers
- objects and maritime warehouses characteristic of a port area
- paintings of cargo boats products being loaded onto vessels
- trade signs depicting manufacturing products
- inscriptions paying tribute to the pursuit of profit (“Profit is joy” found in mosaic entrance way of two wealthy men) (“ Welcome Gain” inscribed in the house of a carpenter”)
- images of mercury, the god of COMMERCE, displayed prolifically as a means to be financially blessed.
Shops also known as Tabernae:
- Main commercial thoroughfare in Pompeii was the road from the Forum past the amphitheatre to the Sarno Gate.
- Remains of shops along this road can be recognised by the wide opening onto the street. Many had back stores where the clerk lived.
- Shops and workshop owners advertised business with painted signs.
- Wine bars and tavernes (capuonae) were scattered throughout both towns (in Pompeii, more densely clustered around amphitheatre and near the entrance gates.)
Thermopolium (thermopolia):
- Food stalls that had ready to eat food (purchaseable fast food)
- mainly used those who could not afford a private kitchen
- Food was stored in dolia
- Represents social mobility in Pompeii where merchants and craftsmen also held a high social status that was more traditionally reserved only for landowners.
- This also showed how many families did not cook/have kitchens they often bought food home for the family to eat.
Investigating and Interpreting the sources for P + H The ECONOMY: Industries and occupations including: Wine and Oil Fishing and Fishermen (Garum) Cloth Manufacture and Treatment Bakeries (Pistrina) Hotels Prostitution
Wine:
- Principal sources of income for people in Campania
- The rich often worked in this industry as a result of long cost between planting and first yield.
- Appears to have been brought in from farms and villas in the countryside when needed, rather than being stored in taverns and bars
Sources
- Bacchus and Vesuvius fresco depicts vineyards being grown on the slopes of Vesuvius.
- Pliny the Elder informs of the varieties of Campanian wine
- Work of Wilheming Jashemski took plaster casts of vine root systems in the ground.
Oil
- oil was used for cooking, particularly in the hot food bars (thermopolium) which provide a service to those who had limited cooking facilities
- lighting
- public baths and gymnasia for rubbing into bodies
- chief ingredient in the manufacture of perfume
- although pompeiian produced their own wine and oil, they imported other varieties from spain, sicily and crete (although their export seems minimal)
note: amphorae, dolium, olive crusher found in pompeii)
Fishing and Fishermen
- Fishing fleets provided crustaceans, mulluscs and fish
- Large volume of nets, hooks and gear found along coastline of Bay of Naples.
- Pompeii was renowned for its GARUM - a fish sauce, a potent mix of guts of fish and other parts like intestines and blood.
- Pliny - “no other liquid except unguents has come to be more highly valued”
- Fisherman from P + H sold their catches in the Macellum (Market) in the Forum
- Wealthier families would have obtained it more directly - had a monopoly on the garum market.
Sources:
- mosaic of ocean resources (abundance - known to pompeiians)
Cloth Manufacutre and Treatment
- Wool was the basis of the washing and dying of clothes - a popular industry in Pompeii. These activities were carried out in workshops and laundries which are also known as (FULLONICAE)
- A significant business connected to textile manufacture was the laundering, bleaching and re-colouring of clothes carried out in fullonicae or laundries.
- 18 laundries were in Pompeii, 4 of them being particularly large.
- These were identified by a number of interconnected basins or tanks with build in steps for washing and rinsing.
- Fullers used urine to clean cloth, so bowls were left outside establishments and on the street. Once dried, the cloth was bleached with sulphur and dyed.
- House of the Wooden Partition contains a painted sign over a Pompeian workshop that shows the various processes involved in cloth manufacture
- Guild of FUllers were a powerful organisation within the city - headquarters were located within the Eumachia building on the eastern side of the forum.
Bakeries (Pistrina)
- There were approximately 33 Bakeries located in Pompeii
- 81 carbonised loaves of bread were found which was an indication of its popularity amongst the people.
- This Saved householders from buying the grain, milling it into flour, - using mules or slaves, and baking their own bread, which was a basic foodstuff.
- Bakeries did their own refining of the grain in lava and stone mills, usually three or four, set in a paved courtyard with a table for kneading the dough and a brick over.
Source:
- Bakery of Modestus -
- 81 loaves of bread were recovered, still on the oven where they had been placed 79AD
- House of Chaste Lovers -
- contained one of the largest bakeries in Pompeii, with four flour mills, a dough preparation area, a huge brick oven and bread shop.
- An oversized and richly decorated dining room with a large window looking into the garden indicated that it may have been used as a place to eat.
Hotels:
- A building named the Hotel of Muses was discovered on the bank of the ancient course of the Sarno.
- As a result of its size, extravagant location overlooking the sea, eight rooms and frescoes by a side door for the entry of a local woman.
Prostitution:
- Important socioeconomic business in both P + H, but no brothel has been identified.
- No stigma attached to men who visited the lupanar (brothel) although stigma was attached to prostitutes themselves.
- was mostly lower class men who used the lupanar, while wealthy men invited a prostitute to their homes.
- Largest lupanar in Pompeii with ten rooms, two storey, walls covered in artwork.
This is identified by:
- Masonry bed in a small room
- Sexual graffiti
- Presence of erotic paintings.
used in a variety of settings brothels, taverns, restaurants, inns. baths, theatres, amphitheatre and circuses. - Associated with lower-class housing.
- Aulus Umbricius Scaurus (Pompeii)
- One of Pompeii’s best known businessmen was the main manufacturer of garm - it is believed that around 30% of Campania’s fish sauce came from his factories.
- Freed slaves helped him run the business.
- three names suggested he was freeborn.
- Came from the renowned Menenian tribe
- However, Scarus did not just monopolise for his own benefit, he used his wealth to begin his son’s political career.
- Many of his garum production workshops were run by family members.
Investigating and Interpreting the sources for P + H
- Factors that determined status
- Citizenship status
- Place of Birth
- Amount of Wealth
- Freedom
- Legal and Political Privileges
Investigating and Interpreting the sources for P + H
The SOCIAL STRUCTURE: Men (remember - including different social classes)
Senatorial Elite:
- Roman Senatorial class who visited P + H and also have villas nearby
- In Pompeii, consul and orator Cicero had a villa at Pompeii
- In Herculaneum, Lucius Calpurnius Piso (Julius Caesar’s Father in Law) had a villa near the city. - villa of Papyri
- They were the nobility of Rome (small group of families
- These people had an enormous influence due to their wealth and stature
- Funded architecture in P + H
- Also dominated businesses
- Lived in the outskirts of the towns
- Had full legal rights
- Received honourary statues
- Controlled Public finance and religion
- In Herculanuem (Marcus Nonius Balbus)
- During regligious festivals, the elites would be chauffeured in a grand chariot.
- Villaof Oplontis (owned by the mistress/wife of Emperor Nero)
Local Elite:
- Wealthy landowners and traders who dominated the town councils and filled the key municipal offices
- In the patron-client system the wealthy elite operated as patrons to the less wealthy, advising them and taking care of their interests. In return, clients gave deference and respects to their patrons, which was very useful at election times.
- Local Elites consisted of wealthy landowners and merchants
- These were the people that were involved in local politics
- Also as magistrates and involved in the legal system
FreeBorn Men (citizen body - populous) :
- Elite Citizens of P + H, who could also vote at Rome in the tribus Menia a voting ‘tribe’
- Included mass-scale farmers, shopkeepers and artisans
- Owned local land and engaged in business around towns.
- Had complete legal rights
- Could hold political offiece (could be members of the ordo decorionum - town council and therefore controlled public monies, buildings and spaces, and religions.
- Their Privileges included: best seats in the theatre and amphitheatre and best tombs, most statues were honoured to them.
- Aulus Umbricius Scaurus (Pompeii)
- One of Pompeii’s best known businessmen was the main manufacturer of garm - it is believed that around 30% of Campania’s fish sauce came from his factories.
- Freed slaves helped him run the business.
- three names suggested he was freeborn.
- Came from the renowned Menenian tribe
- However, Scarus did not just monopolise for his own benefit, he used his wealth to begin his son’s political career.
- Many of his garum production workshops were run by family members.
The Atrium of Umbricus Scaurus’s home. The four corners of the impluvium had mosaics or amphorae with inscriptions of the Roman fish sauces in which three of the amphorae name Scaurus: The flower of garum, made of the mackerel, a product of Scaurus, from the shop of Scaurus)
Other Sources:
- Men owned large agricultural estates, luxury villas around the Bay of Naples and houses in P + H
- Proconsul Marcus Nonius Balbus was a wealthy Roman who built the Suburban Baths in Herculaneum and had an equestrian statue and dedicatory alter erected in his honour.
- Marcus Holconius Rufus was a prominent local citizen of Pompeii and was an Augustalis (priest of the Imperial Cult) - patron of the colony; town magistrate (duumvir)
- 5 year official (quinquennale) and military tribune. The town erected a statue for him.
- The banker Lucius Caecilius Iucundus was another prominent Pompeian who was very wealthy and owned a large town house and a villa rustica nearby.
- he was the citizen son of a freedman, representing the upward social mobility that was possible.
- known from 150 wax tablets at his Pompeian house, which recorded his transactions/financial dealings.
Investigating and Interpreting the sources for P + H
The SOCIAL STRUCTURE: Women
Freeborn Women:
- Could not vote or stand in public office, although they held interest.
- They could exhibit an active and visible influence in politics despite this.
- Legally controlled by fathers or husbands, however their interest for politics could also influence their husband in return
- Status and identity reflected through holding a role as priestess or using wealth to build commemorative architecture
- Upper-class girls seemed to be educated in home, likely by a slave tutor, and thus valued for their literacy as a mark of high status
- could intherit a share of their father’s estate and make a will on the same basis as a brother but could not freely dispose of their inheritance.
- Held right to own property and carry out business transactions
- Still operated domestically and were expected to raise children.
Sources:
- Herculaneum Tablets record a business deal between the freedwoman Poppaea Note, who borrowed money from Dicida Magaris
- Pliny the younger described his wife Calpurnia as a highly intelligent and a careful housewife
- In Herculuaneum, the wife and daughters of the pro consul Nonius Balbus had sstatues exhibited in the Basilica
- Tomb inscriptions give weight to the importance of familial rolse for women.
- Nearly one third of the worshippers of the Cult of Isis, named in the inscriptions are female.
- Wall paintings in Pompeii and Herculanem clearly show women participating in rituals. it is thought that Isis was particularly appealing to women because of the myth of Isis emphasising her role as wife and mothers.
ROLES OF WOMEN:
Business Women:
- Could run shops and engage in crafts/trades to earn profits, both individually and in partnership with husband
- In Herculanuem, women could engage in buying and selling but were not allowed to become money lenders
- Slaves, freedwomen and foriegn women (but not Patrician/Equestrian) could become prostitutes.
(Julia Felix - Notable businesswoman in Pompeii)
- Fresco of baker Terentius Neo and his wife, holding a stylus and writing tablet, from the Pompeii House VII indicates that men and women could be associated with an occupation. The depiction suggest by dress that they were refined, wealthy and cultured.
- Physical evidence of jewellery and coins found with womens’ skeletons outside Pompeii indicated the possibility of wealth.
Tradeswomen:
- These women were of somewhat lower status, women worked independently in making and mending clothes
- wives of craftment and tradesmen would run the shop while their husbands attended to other aspects of the business
- employed in fuller industry - both slave and free
- Livy describes women spinning in the atrium
- A painting in the shop of M. Veculius Verecundus, manufacture of cloth, shows his wife sitting at the counter while a young man chooses a pair of slippers from the shelves.
Bars and Tavern Owners:
- Women could own and operate taverns, inns and bars, which also served as food outlets.
- Graffiti advertisements of Vaeria Hedone, an innkeeper, which says “you can drink here for on as, if you give two, you will drink better; if you give four, you will drink Falernian”
Medical Profession:
- Professional status recognised by the law and fees subject to regulation
- Worked as midwives, physician or doctors. - few were freeborn
- Esp husband and wife medical teams, of which the wife was essentially the midwife.
- Pliny describes childbirth practices concerns to hasten and ease labour.
Political Roles:
- Women could not stand for political office
- still held influence by urging the support of male candidates, often in their family. They could still therefore hold an active and visible opinion on politics.
- 14.5% of painted notices on the walls of Pompeii re.voting are recommendations by women
- Professor Averil Cameron assets that while women ‘neither had, nor sought, political power, they could [work through or with] their husbands under certain closely defined conditions’
- Women who held political power via male relatives include Horensia in the late Roman Republic, daughter of consul, who presented herself as a skilled orator
- Elite woman Taedia Secunda delcared her support for her grandson L popidius Secundus for the office of Magistrate (aedile) in AD 79.
- Vindola tablet 257 further suggest working of women with men.
Priestesses:
- Offered significant role in religion and a means of status.
Foreign women:
- Graffiti of women’s names indicates a significant number of foreign women in Pompeii, involved in trade
- Freedwomen, from the East, frequently sold luxury items or exotic merchandise, such as dyes and perfumes
KEY WOMEN:
Eumachia:
- was a daughter of a wine merchant who was very wealthy and powerful
- A building was funded by her, to convey her wealth and her popularity. In return for this generous offer, her name was insribed within the building.
- The construction of public buildings was a means of self-promotion for the political elite, enabling them to demonstrate their wealth and generosity to the people.
- Was a local priestess of Venus (god of beauty)
- A statue was built in honour of her contribution, and was a common site of worship in Pompeii.
- became patroness of Pompeii’s guild of fullers
- inherited a large amount of money from father, Lucius Eumachius, a brick worker
- Married into Numistrii Frontones, one of the oldest and wealthiest Pompeiian families
- New status allowed her to assume position of: public office of Pristess of venus, and matron of an imperial cult of Concordia Augustus dedicated to the deified emperor.
- provided the guild with the Building of Eumachia with a dedication on its facade in the name of herself and her son marcus Numistrius Fronto
- Benefaction likely ot garner public support for her son, who intended to be elected as duumviri
- Fullers built a statue of Eumachia depicting her in veiled priestess form which was placed in the Building of Eumachia. Inscription states “Dedicated to Eumachia, daughter of Lucius, a city priestess, by the fullers.”
Mamia:
- Was a wealthy Pompeiian woman who held a public priestly office
- An inscription found in Pompeii suggests that she was responsible for the contruction of the Temple of Genius Augusti (Temple of Vespasian) on her own land at her expense.
- Inscription on her tomb indicates that it was donated by order of the town council and buried on public land” “To Mamia, daughter of Publius, public priestess, a burial place was given by decree of the town councillors.
Julia Felix:
- Wealth and Rich woman who owned the house of julia felix in Pompeii.
- After 62 AD earthquake, she converted her house into luxurious baths and leisure gardens for public use.
- Renting out her villa established herself as a property owner, business woman and public figure.
- A wealthy widow,, property owner and business woman that inherited her shareholdings and money from her family. sHe owned an estate the size of an insula - apartment building size
- Sometime after the earthquake in 62AD, she transformed parts of her estate into baths, shops, taverns and apartments
- Advertised these apartments for rent to Pompeian citizens whose homes had been damaged by the earthquake
Problems of Evidence
- Tangible evidence is limited and fragmentary
- Evidence of women in art is usually a male depiction and thus, idealised to a patriarchal view
- much evidence comes from predominantly female spaces such as houses, the Forum, bedroom painting, Temples, street graffiti, shops and workshops.
- Largely interpretive - coloured by authors of their own context. E.g Misinterpretation of the painting of Terentius Neo and his wife as aristocrats.
- Prostitution was stigmatised for women, and so occupations associated with serving of food and drink have been traditionally misinterpreted as prostitution. These are currently being reinterpreted
Investigating and Interpreting the sources for P + H The SOCIAL STRUCTURE: lower class women
- Women in P + H had more rights than many other women in the ancient world
- They could hold properties, run businesses and hold prominent religious roles
- were not allowed to vote or have political positions
- Many expressed their opinion using graffiti on walls.
- Generally had domestic roles
- Often worked in the fulling industry
(washing and dyeing cloth) - Other sold produce, owned and operated taverns/inns, were midwives and physicians, and some were prostitutes
- Some were public priestesses responsible for construction and dedication of public buildings.
Investigating and Interpreting the sources for P + H
The SOCIAL STRUCTURE: Freedmen
Freedmen:
- Former enslaved people who were released from slavery
- Free in all ways but tied to master in a relationship of gratitude and loyalty, expected to aid them whenever needed
- Small shops, workshops, taverns were usually run by the freed dependents of the owner of the house
- In Pompeii, associated with crafts, trade and commerce
- Many houses owned by freedmen.
They were also known as libertus or liberta (female)
Freedmen:
- Often worked for former masters
- Many became wealthy and influential
- Voted in elections
- Owned businesses
- Participated in some religious cults and could become an Augustalis (priest of the cult of the emperor)
Freedwomen:
- Could not hold formal political office
- Some worked for former masters or beside their husbands
- Freed slaves of Aulus Umbricus Scaurus ran his business for him
- Vetti brothers were freedmen in Pompeii who were successful wine producers. Archaeological examinations of their residence suggests that they were particularly luxurious and well decorated
- The tomb erected by Naevoleia Tyche for her husband shows that some freedwomen became rather wealthy.
- Number of freed slaves increased in 1st century AD
- In Pompeii most freedmen and freedwomen worked in small shops, workshops, bars and taverns, built into facades of dignified residences were run by freed dependants of the owner of the house
- Wives of freedmen helped their husbands in business such as bakeries, butchers and blacksmiths and others ran their own enterprises such as brothels and inns
- A freedman or freedwoman was free in all ways but tended to remain tied to his or her former master and patron in a relationship of gratitude and loyalty, performing services for him.
- Freedmen were often identified by archaeologists through their funerary portraits/reliefs. Freedmen adopted the names of their masters.
- Freedmen and freedwomen were often looked down upon and were never able to have true social equality.
