To Be a Woman in Antiquity: A Retrospective

The first display within the exhibit offers an introduction to the names and faces of Pompeian women. On one side, a gently moving text projection of countless women's names recorded from inscriptions across the site over its long archaeological history dances across the wall. On the other, a brief primer on recognizing women through portraiture and other media provides useful context for viewing other images throughout the exhibit. 

A few examples of women' s portraits in marble and painted fresco accompany this display, each one showcasing the distinct individualism of the women sitters that was a hallmark of Roman painting and sculpture. From here, the rest of the exhibit consists of a long ambulatory that weaves from left to right with section introductions preluding each set of companion artifacts. 

Unfolding chronologically, we begin with birth and childhood, moving on to adolescence into adulthood, then to marriage and matrons. Next are the different aspects and ways of adult life, including high status women of elite houses, working women, freedwomen, sex workers, and many other life paths of ancient Pompeiian women and what they engaged in– from leisure to work, and many things in between. 

The curators’ aim was most certainly to showcase the diversity of Pompeiian women's experiences. However, in many sections, there was a common theme centered on the level of financial and social power and mobility that Roman women had achieved, especially compared to their Greek predecessors. Many displays highlight women's responsibilities in solely managing their household and individual finances, the education of children, their roles as entrepreneurs, proprietresses, and benefactresses, and their frequent engagement in intellectual and artistic pursuits. 

Although the exhibit intends to discuss women of all walks of life, much of the displays do indeed focus on women of higher social and economic status. This is not entirely surprising considering these individuals tended to leave the best and most numerous material evidence of their lives. Material imbalances notwithstanding, curators still manage to make meaningful spaces for women of different lived experiences through considerate object choices. 

A gold snake bracelet that once belonged to an enslaved woman, for instance, highlights the kind of tenuous and oppressive experience many ancient women endured. The bracelet is engraved on the inside of the band with the inscription “dom(i)nus ancillae suae" (the master to his very own slave girl) and often has been interpreted as a gift from an enslaver to their enslaved individual. Though coded as a gift, it is highly probable that this bracelet was actually intended to simultaneously display ownership over the enslaved woman and showcase the wealth of the enslaver.

Contrary to the unnamed wearer of the snake bracelet, many other women found ways to promote their voices, identities, and destinies in their own way and to their own benefit. Julia Felix, for example, was known to have run a successful bathhouse and inn, establishing her financial independence and status as a businesswoman of Pompeii. 

Upon inheriting a large house from her father, Spurius, Julia cleverly converted the private home and large bath complex into a public inn after the city’s public Stabian baths were damaged in the earthquake of 62 CE. Her rental notice to potential guests was still intact and attached to the outside of the home when archaeologists uncovered it millennia later. 

The remainder of the exhibit continues to explore Pompeiian women as business owners, patronesses, and medicinal experts. It concludes with a glimpse into how these women were represented in death through grave sites and tomb iconography. Closing out the ancient portion of the exhibit is a sobering display of an eruption victim’s remains, preserved forever in her final agonizing moment as she attempted to flee the certain doom of Vesuvius’ wrath. 

Two short, but impactful, addenda follow the main exhibit, including a projected video of Pompeiian women as depicted in modern media– from silent films to contemporary television series– and finally, a grateful nod to the women leaders of archaeological discovery and continued work at the site.

As a whole, the exhibit is a wonderful foray for the general visitor into a topic of great importance and long overdue for attention. Some aspects of the exhibit, such as a rather peculiar and dramatic, moving 3D reconstruction of Eumachia's tomb on one of the city's main access roads, could have been used to greater effect, such as showing how women occupied social or literal physical spaces, or for showcasing more artifacts pertinent to the lives of non-elite women.

I would also note that the display of the eruption victim's remains could have been handled more delicately. For one, visitors should have been given more warning than a small sign affixed to a window just before entering the space that they would be confronted with human remains. Furthermore, the exhibit gives you no choice but to view the remains, with no option for egress. A more tactful display should have allowed visitors the choice to see the victim's remains, possibly by covering them with a moveable curtain or placing them in a separate enclosed space. This would have shown both a higher level of respect for the victim, as well as the very diverse and international set of guests that visit the park, many of whom may not feel comfortable seeing human remains for any number of reasons. The large amount of space dedicated to Eumachia's tomb 3D projection could have served this purpose perfectly and been a far more impactful use of the space.

Despite these issues, the exhibit is successful in its goal to provide an overview of the diversity of the women who lived and died at Pompeii and is crafted in such a way that any visitor, regardless of their familiarity with the topic, can take something away from it. Pompeii is often difficult to envision as populated and alive in its current, somewhat sterile state, but the curators of Essere Donna nell’Antica have managed to bring something of the ancient life back to the city through the exploration of the lived experiences of the women who inhabited it.