The autonomy and influence of Roman women in the late first/early second century CE: Social history and gender discourse

Using various sources, including letters, inscriptions, satire and philosophy, my dissertation analyzes the autonomy and social influence of Roman women in the late first/early second century CE. While much scholarship has focused on Roman women of the Principate, the period is by no means "static" after Augustus: outside of the imperial family, I argue, many elite women exercised power in more informal social networks (especially patronage). Social mobility, and a lack of libertas for Roman males, translated into an increasingly worrisome---and conflicting---position from which to gain and maintain power (i.e., an implicit claim to authority and influence). The concept of gender, one informed by the social and political context of changing relations between the sexes, allows me to "read against the grain" when analyzing the invective of this time period: i.e., I examine when women assume power within the texts themselves. Satires and epigrams, while usually attacking women for sexual promiscuity, increasingly focus on the Roman matron, especially as a site for licentia, a variety of transgressive behaviors that mark a widening gap from the historical ideal.