Empress, "matron" or freed: the difficulty of being a woman in Rome exposed to Nîmes

Open until March 8, the exhibition "Portraits and secrets of Roman women. Empresses, + matrons + and freed", has been designed for the Uffizi Galleries in Florence.

Thirty-five works belonging to three Florentine institutions have been loaned, including richly sculpted funeral altars and busts of famous and unknown Roman women.

From the beginnings of the Republic, in the 5th centuries BC.

AD, the female model which is essential in Rome is that of the "matron", respectable mother in charge of the administration of the house and the education of the children, but without visibility or public role, explains the curator of the exhibition, Novella Lapini.

If their legal status changed little, at the end of the republican era, in the 1st century BC.

J. - C., the women of the elite however benefit from a refined education and a certain independence, favored for some by the possession of an important inheritance, while remaining absent from the public sphere.

Visitors at the entrance to the exhibition "Portraits and secrets of Roman women", at the Musée de la Romanité in Nîmes, November 10, 2021 Pascal GUYOT AFP

The first emperor, Augustus, to establish his new power, will want to update their role.

He asks the women of his family to embody both the model of the matron, while giving them greater visibility.

The wives, mothers or mothers-in-law of the emperor will thus be conferred the status of "Augusta" during their lifetime, then of "Diva" (divinity) after their death.

Antonia the Younger, niece of Augustus, including a bust from the middle of the 1st century AD.

JC is one of the centerpieces of the exhibition, is the perfect embodiment of this subtle evolution.

Risks

These women, whose portraits and statues then adorn the temples and forums, become models for their contemporaries, who will try to imitate their behavior and their style (clothes, hairstyle ...), as shown by the inscriptions on the altars. and the portraits, in particular of freedmen, exhibited in Nîmes.

For these women of the 1st and 2nd century AD.

JC, the model remains however "difficult to embody", underlines Novella Lapini.

"If women take on a role deemed too important, men will accuse them of the same things as those of the lower layers, always referring them to their private life: adultery, use of poisons or filters ...", notes- she.

In the event of adultery, an accusation often aimed at weakening the position of the husband, the penalty is exile or death.

A bust of Agrippina the Younger, sister of Caligula and mother of Nero, at the exhibition "Portraits and secrets of Roman women", Nîmes, November 10, 2021 Pascal GUYOT AFP

Agrippina the Younger, the first woman to combine the positions of sister, wife and mother of emperors, whose portrait can also be seen, will have to confront the prestige and the risks associated with this condition.

First magnified by her brother Caligula, she was exiled with her sisters, then recalled to court by her uncle, Emperor Claudius, whose wife she became and whom she obtained to adopt her son, Nero.

The latter, become emperor, will finally make her fall from grace, because he does not succeed in controlling her.

Located in Nîmes, a city with a rich Roman heritage, the Musée de la Romanité is a modern space inaugurated in 2018. The exhibition is accompanied by a series of meetings and conferences devoted to the place of women in the 'Antiquity and how their role can enlighten contemporary society.

© 2021 AFP