Ideal & Real Women in Late Antiquity Portrait of a wealthy Roman matron from the catacombs of Domitilla, Rome.

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve Greco-Roman Theories

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve Greco-Roman Theories Christian Views

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve Greco-Roman Theories Christian Views 2. Women as Heroines

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve Greco-Roman Theories Christian Views 2. Women as Heroines Apocryphal Acts

The Acts of [Paul and] Thecla: The Example of Thecla Coptic Icon of St. TheclaByzantine Miniature of St. Thecla, 11th Century

St. Paul with St. Thecla and St. Timothy Psalter and New Testament Manuscript, Constantinople, ca 1084

St. Thecla, the proto-martyr for women

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve Greco-Roman Theories Christian Views 2. Women as Heroines Apocryphal Acts Martyrdom Accounts

Women as Heroines The Virgin-Martyr Agnes, Gold-Glass from fourth-century Rome

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve 2. Women as Heroines II. Real Lives

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve 2. Women as Heroines II. Real Lives A. Ordinary Women’s Lives: Legal & Practical Perspectives

“Over there the babies are prattling, the children hang on her for kisses, the accounts are being added up, & the money got ready for payment. Here a posse of cooks, girded for action, is pounding meat, & a crowd of weaving-women chattering. Then a message comes that her husband has brought his friends home. She circles the rooms like a swallow: is the couch smooth? Have they swept the floor? Are the cups properly set out? Is dinner ready? Tell me, where in all this is the thought of God?” Jerome, Against Helvidius, 20

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve 2. Women as Heroines II. Real Lives A. Ordinary Women’s Lives: Legal & Practical Perspectives B. Lifestyles of the Extraordinary

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve 2. Women as Heroines II. Real Lives A. Ordinary Women’s Lives: Legal & Practical Perspectives B. Lifestyles of the Extraordinary 1. Ascetic Women: The Case of Marcella

Jerome on Marcella: “She did not accept the ‘ipse dixit’ of her teacher, nor did authority, unsupported by the verdict of reason, influence her; but she tested all things, & weighed the whole matter so sagaciously that I perceived I had not a disciple so much as a judge.” “Nor would she acquiesce in my explanations but on the contrary would dispute them; not, however, for argument’s sake but to learn the answers to those objections which might...be made to my statements.”

“…she gave her own opinion not as her own but as from someone else...For she knew that apostle had said: ‘I suffer not a woman to teach,’ & she would not seem to inflict a wrong upon the male sex.” -Jerome on Marcella

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve 2. Women as Heroines II. Real Lives A. Ordinary Women’s Lives: Legal & Practical Perspectives B. Lifestyles of the Extraordinary 1. Ascetic Women: The Case of Marcella 2. A Female Pagan Philosopher: Hypatia of Alexandria

“So do not worry whether you are male or female in body, & do not see yourself as a woman, for I did not draw near to you as such. Avoid all feminization of the soul, just as if you had a male body also. The most blessed offspring come from a virgin soul & a celibate mind.” - Porphyry, To Marcella 33

Ideal and Real Women in Late Antiquity I. Theoretical Roles A. The Problem of Sources B. A Tale of Ambivalence 1. Inferiority & the Legacy of Eve 2. Women as Heroines II. Real Lives A. Ordinary Women’s Lives B. Lifestyles of the Extraordinary 1. Ascetic Women: The Case of Marcella 2. A Female Pagan Philosopher: Hypatia of Alexandria C. What difference did Christianity make for women?