Chains of gold: female status and the Roman 'catena' in the early Imperial period

Forfattere

  • Meredith P. Nelson Scientific Collaborator. Centre de Recherches en Archéologie et Patrimoine. Université Libre de Bruxelles

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/acta.10442

Emneord (Nøkkelord):

adornment, jewellery, catena, Imperial Rome, female sensuality, body-chain, Antiquity

Sammendrag

This article considers the Roman body chain (catena), which comprises two long lengths of woven gold chain worn crisscrossing the torso. Roman illustrations of women wearing catenae demonstrate that the form carried strongly erotic connotations relating to the goddess Venus and female sensuality. A small corpus of preserved body chains from the Vesuvian region testifies to their actual use by women in the first centuries BC and AD. This study examines the status of the women who wore such jewellery, which combined clear economic expense with erotic messaging. In opposition to claims that the sexual nature of body chains signals their association with prostitutes, it is argued here that visual and textual sources contemporaneous with the Vesuvian chains point to women of “respectable” social categories having both the freedom and incentive to express a confident sexual identity. Important archaeological evidence offers further indications for the ownership and use of catenae by Roman women of varying status. The potential meanings and motivations underlying the shared use of this symbolic form of adornment are also addressed.

 

On cover:
Late Roman wall, the portion immediately south of the West Gate (Porta Oea) with re-used blocks from first-century mausolea (Drawing by Francesca Bigi) and Tombstone of Regina from South Shields (Arbeia) (Tyne and WearArchives and Museums/ Bridgeman Images).

E-ISSN (online version) 2611-3686

ISSN (print version) 0065-0900

Late Roman wall, the partition immediately south of the West Gate (Porta Oea) with reused blocks from first-century mausolea (Drawing by Francesca Bigi) and Tombstone of Regina from South Shields (Arbeia) (Tyneamd WearArchives and Museums/ Bridgeman Images)

Nedlastinger

Publisert

2023-08-01

Hvordan referere

Nelson, M. P. (2023) «Chains of gold: female status and the Roman ’catena’ in the early Imperial period», Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia, 33(19 N.S.), s. 215–231. doi: 10.5617/acta.10442.

Utgave

Vol 33 Nr. 19 N.S. (2021)

Seksjon

Part 2: Adornment as Expression of Everyday Identity in Ancient and Medieval Life

Lisens

Opphavsrett 2023 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License

Dette verket er lisensiert under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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