The Roman world was not the most tolerant of women; especially when it comes to their interference in political affairs. Women crossing this precisely defined border had to reckon with insults and public stigmatization. How did they deal with it and how was history handled with them?
Ancient Rome gave birth to many ambitious and brave women who were not afraid to reach for what they thought was their due. They had to endure and sacrifice a lot to achieve their goals. Their ambitions and need for freedom were often severely punished. Interestingly, the blame for their actions was usually blamed on men who allowed such behavior. They were considered weak and effeminate; for what else could one think of a man in antiquity who could not keep his house in order?
In Roman history and legends we meet courageous women influencing power and politics who have not been ultimately condemned. These include, among others pure Lucrezia who took her own life after the rape so as not to dishonor the name of his father; brave Klelia, who saved a group of women held captive by the Etruscan king. The Sabinki family were also an example, thanks to whom the war did not take place. We should also mention Veturia and Volumnia, which prevented the attack on the City in the 5th century BCE. All these stories praising courageous and loyal women sent the people of Rome a clear message - if all women were so devoted and intelligent, Rome would never have been debauched, corrupt or despotic. But that doesn't mean all Roman women were so docile.
Fulvia Dangerous Woman
Fulwia was the daughter of Mark Fulwiusz Bambalio and Sempronia - the daughter of Gaius Gracchus. She quickly became the only heir to the family estate after her mother, which made her an extremely wealthy woman. Thanks to this, she was able to financially support her husbands in the future and pursue her political goals, thus becoming extremely influential.
She is best known for her third marriage to Mark Antony, whose career she also supported very much both financially and actively. Her greatest ambition at the time was to raise her husband to the first post in the republic.
However, her actions were double-edged. Due to the fact that women were not welcome in politics or on the front lines, Fulvia quickly became the dream target of Mark Antony's opponents . Archaeological discoveries in Perugia showed the world a slingshot with vulgar inscriptions such as "Bald Lucius Antony and Fulvia, open your asses open".
History was equally disgraceful to Fulvia. The ancients described, among other things, that after Cicero's death, she pierced his tongue with a golden hairpin, which was an allegory of a sword or dagger. Following these events, her reputation for being a terrible hybrid of male and female traits had established itself. The obscene poem about her was also reportedly written by Octavian himself .
Fulvia ordered Cicero's head to be brought to her and then pierced his tongue with a golden hairpin
Plutarch in Lives of Famous Men wrote about her that
was a woman not thinking of taking over the wool or guarding the house, or intending to rule over a simple husband, but to rule over the imperious and participate in his military expeditions - so that Cleopatra should have paid Fulvia for Antony's habituation to female power, when she herself took over, quite submissive and long-time used to listening to a woman .
Fulwia was a faithful and ambitious woman. She certainly suffered greatly from the betrayal, or at least some of her actions were aimed at luring Mark Antony from the hands of Cleopatra. After the defeat in Perusia, she was forced to flee and sentenced to exile, where she died. According to some legends, she met Mark Antony during his trip to Italy and was severely reprimanded by him for his actions. Her feelings were about to be hurt so badly at this time that she completely stopped taking care of herself, which eventually led to her death.
"Her Majesty the Harlot"
Valeria Messallina was the daughter of Domicja Lepidia the Younger and the great-granddaughter of Octavia and Mark Antony. Thanks to her descent from the family of Emperor Augustus, she became, in theory at least, an ideal candidate for an imperial wife. She married Claudius as a young girl, even before he became emperor, and a year after the wedding she gave birth to his daughter Octavia. Three weeks after Claudius took the throne, their son Tiberius Claudius Germanicus was also born (from 43 years after the victory in Britain, he received the nickname under which history remembered him - British).
After the birth of the British, Mesalin was blessed with numerous honors. She was exhibited statues, she sat among the vestals in the front rows of the theater audience; she could even ride the streets in the "carpentum" - a special two-wheeled car. The Senate even wanted to award her the title of August, but for various reasons it did not happen . The emperor himself protested the idea.
Mesalina seemed to be the perfect woman for the perfect empress, but ... married too young to Claudius, who was about thirty years her senior, looked more like a lolita than a good matron . By the ancients it was compared to Cleoparty - a queen-harlot and nicknamed meretrix Augusta - Her Majesty the Harlot .
How did Mesalina deserve such a name? Her favorite pastime was organizing and participating in collective orgies. According to sources, it was supposed to force married women from wealthy families to participate in these events, while their husbands had to watch it carefully. Once she even decided to organize a competition of endurance in love. Her rival was the most popular prostitute of that time. The empress was victorious by having twenty-five intercourse continuously throughout the day. According to the legends, the empress also "earned extra money" in the brothel, from which she was said to leave the last and dissatisfied.
Mesalina, for pleasure, "earned extra money" as a prostitute in a brothel
Mesalina was also a bloodthirsty woman . She led to the death of, among others, Julia Livia (Caligula's sister) because of her beauty and frequent conversations with Claudius. The empress also believed that Livia did not treat her with sufficient respect and led to her exile on charges of adultery with Seneca. Livia was then executed at the age of 20. Another victim of the murderous empress was Julia, the granddaughter of Tiberius, who died as a result of intrigues spread by Mesalina. Poppaea Sabina committed suicide after being accused of adultery.
The men weren't much safer around her. Former consul Junius Sylan, after rejecting her advances, was embroiled in an intrigue and accused of a coup d'état and sentenced on the basis of a dream dreamed by the liberator Narcissus and the empress at almost the same time . Catonius Justus, the praetorian prefect, was killed because the empress was afraid that she would reveal her secrets. Valerius the Asian died because of his fortune. Mesalina even sent murderers on little Nero, who could pose a threat to her son in the future.
Mesalina was very good at hiding her actions and preferences from her husband. But she went a step too far, and that led to her undoing. She fell in love with the consul, Gaius Silius, whom she forced into divorce. Silius suggested that they get married, and the empress agreed to the proposal in time. During the celebration of the vintage with her new husband and lovers, one of them was supposed to climb a tree and say, "There is a storm coming from Ostia." He was right!
Information about this event quickly reached Claudius who was staying in Ostia, and he hurried to the capital. On the way, he rejected the empress who had gone to meet him, their children, and the vestal who was to intercede for Mesalina. He went to the praetorian barracks, where swore to live alone from then on, and then proceeded to trial and sentencing the guilty to death .
Mesalina was to be judged by Claudius the next day, but Narcissus again decided to intervene and ordered the first officer encountered to kill the empress by the emperor's will. This officer and a freedman found Mesalina sobbing in the garden in her mother's arms, where she tried to commit suicide . However, she was unable to do so, so eventually she died, pierced by the sword of the aforementioned officer.
Witch of the Tiber
Although Claudius, as we read above, chose to live his life alone after Mesalina's death, this was not given to him. As Tacitus writes, his fourth wife, Agrippina the Younger, was selected as a result of a political beauty contest . Their marriage was not even hindered by the fact that Agrippina was the emperor's niece. And although the law forbade incestuous marriages , it was the political benefits of this union that were so important that the senate abolished this rule and allowed the wedding. Even a special law was passed, about which the Roman lawyer Gaius writes in the "Institution" that:
You are allowed to take your niece for your wife. This was the first time that Emperor Claudius was married to his brother's daughter Agrippina. However, you cannot marry your niece.
Three months after Mesalina's death, Agrippina was married. In order to introduce the new empress to the consciousness of her subjects, her image had to appear in the public sphere. The image of Agrippina the Younger was minted on coins together with the image of her husband. It was the first time that an empress accompanied an emperor on a coin .
Agrippina was quickly awarded the title of Augusta , in many Greek cities she was worshiped as a goddess and sworn in her name. The Empress appeared at official ceremonies as Claudius' companion. One might even be tempted to say that she became a co-owner .
What was the purpose of the choice of Agrippina the Younger to be Claudius' wife? Certainly the reunification of the imperial family and the blurring of the memory of Mesalin. Replacing the debauched and impetuous woman who was Mesalina for the calculated, sober and internally disciplined Agrippina appeared at the very beginning as a good plan.
However, as it turned out, Agrippina also had her own plans . She wanted to ensure the future of her son Lucius Domitius. He was the fruit of her earlier marriage with Gnaeus Domitius - a not very pleasant figure. As he himself stated after the birth of their son: Of me and Agrippina, only a monster could be born for the loss of all ... well, you can't help but be right, because their son Lucius is known throughout history as Emperor Nero.
How did she go about implementing her plans? People started dying on the day she married Claudius . According to Tacitus, after his marriage:
Everything changed in the capital, everyone was obeying the woman. This, however, disgraced the dignity of Rome with not fornication, as did Mesalina, for a severe and almost masculine slavery ensued. Stern, but more pride was shown. Nothing offensive happened in the palace, unless it might be useful to the authorities. The apparent desire to help the state's finances served as a pretext for boundless greed.
By the time Claudius realized what was happening, it was too late. Nero was already adopted by him, and Agrippina had more power in Rome than any woman before her . Claudius began to prepare his son of Britain for a successor, but as soon as Agrippina realized what was happening, Claudius died. Suddenly. After eating the mushroom dish.
Agrippina the Younger successfully placed her son, Emperor Nero, on the throne
Seventeen-year-old Nero was quickly hailed as the successor. On his behalf, his mother took over the total power for the next several months. The first nail in her coffin was the conflict with her son over his contacts with the freed woman Acte. Another was the removal of her trusted man Pallas from office. The furious Agrippina threatened Nero that, just as she made him emperor, she could also turn him into his British half-brother. Briton was poisoned during a feast in February 55.
However, the news that she intended to marry the great-grandson of Augustus Rubelius Plautus led to the death of the empress. She was removed from the throne and sent to Antium. In 59, Nero invited her to a cordial conversation in a town on the Bay of Naples. When Agrippina returned from her to her villa, her boat "quite accidentally" sank, and her maid calling for help on her behalf was killed with oars. The murderers were sent to Agrippina's villa the next day.
After her death, a letter from Seneca was presented to the senate, in which many guilt and actions to the detriment of the senate and the Roman people were cited. He also suggested that Agrippina captured the sent murderers and committed suicide.
Agrippina the Younger led to the fall or murder of many people. She made her son be enthroned at all costs. She was accused of dealing with magicians and astrologers.
Nero ordered his mother to be murdered
Ancient Rome gave birth to many ambitious women. These are just three examples of strong, dangerous and determined women. They were not a model of virtue, but they certainly knew what they wanted and could achieve it by any means available in their time.
Literature:
- A. Freisenbruch, First Ladies of Ancient Rome. Women who stood behind the backs of emperors, Warsaw 2017.
- A. Krawczuk, The group of empresses of Rome u, Warsaw 2011.
- W. Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mitholog y, voll. II, Boston 1870.
- W. Smith, C. Anthon, A new Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography , New York 1884.