Page - 35 - in Austrian Law Journal, Volume 1/2017

ALJ 1/2017 Women and Civic Identity in Roman Antiquity 35 Another very ancient cult, perhaps introduced in the early Republic but still flourishing during the period of the Empire, was that of Bona Dea whose name was secret. This was an exclusively female cult, but it was practiced pro populo romano, for the benefit and health of the whole Roman people.48 This cult entailed a secret ceremony, to which men were not admitted. This ceremony was officiated in her house by the wife of a supreme magistrate cum imperio, assisted by the Vestal Virgins, the high college of priestesses who tended the city’s perpetually burning fire.49 Finally, the festival of the Lupercalia should not go unmentioned. As ancient as Rome itself, it was held in mid-February and physically involved the city and its entire population, explicitly including women, in a rite of purification and fertility, of land and of women. According to Varro,50 February was the month in which the people were purified, representing the central point in the life of the city. It is no accident that it was during this festival in 44 BCE that Mark Antony – consul and head of the Luperci – offered Caesar the king’s crown, which he refused. The festival was still celebrated in 495 CE but was abolished shortly afterwards. The religious role of the Roman woman is a constant: we also have endless inscriptions naming women who had built or restored temples or altars in their name and at their expense.51 It is from this perspective that women came closest to playing a central role in Rome’s public life. 2. Civic spaces, religious or otherwise There are only two examples in a rich catalogue relating to this area. Important type of public presence is that of Eumachia, who lived in Pompeii during the Augustan period. Already a wealthy woman in her own right, she married a member of one of the town’s oldest families, and became the public priestess of Venus and patron of the corporation of the fullones, the washers. She had a large public building constructed at her expense, perhaps to be used mainly as a wool market, and dedicated it to Concordia Augusta and to pietas, very likely seeking to support her son’s election campaign for the post of duumvir in the years 2/3 CE.52 The model of the building was the porticus Liviae, Augustus’ wife, with two statues, one representing Livia, and the other – Eumachia. In the eastern part of the Empire, in the Aegean islands and especially in Asia Minor, between the I and III century CE, we witness the only instances, where a large number of women held posts as city magistrates. These were obviously very wealthy women of particularly high social status, often belonging to families with close ties to Rome, the imperial court and the provincial governor. Undoubtedly, more often than not these were cities with empty coffers, so that anyone willing to shoulder public expenditure was welcome: these women primarily financed public games. How- 48 CIC. de har. resp. 17.37; de leg. 2.21. 49 On the cult of Bona Dea see ARIADNE STAPLES, FROM GOOD GODDESS TO VESTAL VIRGINS. SEX AND CATEGORY IN ROMAN RELIGION (1988) passim. 50 VARRO l.l. 6.34, februatur populous, people is purified, which is likely to have given the month of February its name. 51 Exemplary is CIL I2 1688=10.292=ILS 5030=ILLRP 540 (Padula, late Republic): “Ansia Tarvi f(ilia)/Rufa ex d(ecurionum) d(ecreto) circ(a)/lucum macer(iam) et murum ian(uam)/d(e) s(ua) p(ecunia) F(ACIENDUM) C(URAVIT).”; SCHULTZ, supra note 47, at 59: “Ansia Rufa, daughter of Ansius Tarvus, by order of the decurions (local officials) ensured that a brick wall and (another) wall and a gate were built around the grove. She paid for it with her money.” 52 On Eumachia (and Iulia Felix, another interesting female figure from Pompeii) see Rosaria Ciardiello, Donne im- prenditrici a Pompei: Eumachia e Giulia Felice, in 43 THE MATERIAL SIDES OF MARRIAGE supra note 10.