Women’s Costume and Feminine Civic Morality in Augustan Rome

Abstract

Augustus claimed that the moral decay of the Roman Republic was especially due to Roman women who had forsaken their traditional role of custos domi (‘preserver of the house/hold’). In reforming feminine morality, Augustus created a new pictorial language that troped the feminine body as a ‘moral sign’ of civic morality and authorized a distinctive costume for women. Sebesta investigates the relationship between women’s garments, the female body and the Roman concept of feminine civic morality.

Morals, piety, and representations of veiled women in augustan rome

“…Augustus, known as "first among equals," was responsible for restoring the fallen republic-a leader who attempted on several occasions to bestow traditional views on morality and piety through social legislations. Sculpture depicting veiled women from the Augustan age is often seen as an embodiment of these reforms, it therefore offers an interesting case study to construe what is beiieved to be normative practice in daily life (Sebesta 1997). Modest head and body coverings on these works essentially have become a symbol of domestic propriety and proper moral conduct especially for aristocratic élite married women-a status symbol purported to have gone hand in hand with the concept of pudlcitia (sexual restraint) (Langlands 2006).…”

Unveiling the veil: cultic, status, and ethnic representations of early imperial freedwomen

“…In addition, select examples of literary and archeological evidence suggest that Valerius Maximus' take on veiling is not indicative of fhe times In which he is living,' it seems that women of various statuses do appear in public with head unveiled {contra Sebesta 1997). For example, the iate first-century BCE poet Propertius states that women of a lower status went about outdoors with heads unveiled.^ The archeological record, viz,, wall painting and sculpture, for the early first century CE provides a similar scenario for married women from the upper echelons of Roman society (Olson 2002: 405, n. 20).^ These few examples alone indicate that we should not construe Valerius Maximus' reference to veiling as reflecting normative practices in the early first century CE.…”

“…His reign marks the pinnacle of religious piety and morality owing to the emperor's predilection for tradition and, in part, for his distaste for the wanton, lascivious behavior among certain female members of the Roman elite. Some claim that certain artworks of this period reflect the emperor's reiigious and moral ideals particularly those aimed at women (Sebesta 1997). One such RG2 'rocisssion Scene trom ofAtsPdcis.…”

“…Scholarly consensus maintains that countless portraits of Roman freedwomen on early imperial funerary monuments appear with heads veiled and this is so because the women emulated their wealthier freeborn counterparts (Bartman 1999;George 2005;Kleiner 1977;MacMuilen 1980;Sebesta 1995a;Sebesta 1997;Sensi 1980).' These representations, moreover, are taken to be synonymous with the notion of pudicitia (chastity and virtue).…”

“…These representations, moreover, are taken to be synonymous with the notion of pudicitia (chastity and virtue). The veil, particularly in the Augustan period , becomes a symbol of domestic propriety and proper moral conduct especiaily for the aristocratic elite (D'Ambra 1993: 89-90;Sebesta 1997;531;Winter 2003: 78-83). The methodological approaches and data that scholars have traditionaliy used to substantiate these points are probiematic at best.…”