Roman Heroines and Mythical Women: Myth vs Reality in Portrayals of Roman Women

Lucretia, Minerva, Diana, Dido, Hersilia. These are women of Roman Myth. Formidable, powerful, and capable of great things. These women of myth enacted great change, and were revered throughout society. High-society Ladies, Mothers, Goddesses and Queens, they were paragons of strength and defiance - anomalies in a sea of unwanted, irrelevant womanhood in Roman society. Whilst these women held power, they were often idealised, or brought down by weakness and insanity in their respective myths. Men still controlled their identities, their matriarchies were crumbled as a result of a spurned love interest, or men caused their suicides. It can be argued, that whilst they appeared to be strong and courageous, they represented the values and virtues of Roman society if a woman is powerful, it is because her family is the 'right family', or if she enacts change it is as a result of, or necessary in the protection of her family. Roman Heroines were gleaming beacons of virtue, overshadowing their independence or individualism, and personal accomplishments. Women in the Roman republic had little to no rights in society 'they were less than men in every sense, and held less value'. These women of myth, whilst important, and holding value in terms of showing modern day Historians instances of strong female imagery and power in the mythology of the Roman republic, cannot, on the whole, accurately reconstruct the lives of the real women of Rome.

Lucretia was a noblewoman, and was the wife of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus. She was raped by an Etruscan Prince of Rome, and committed suicide to ensure that her example would not justify a lack of chastity in other women of Rome. Her family, having sworn to her that they would avenge her rape, enacted a vengeance that allegedly brought down the Etruscan dynasty that had had control of Rome, and ushered in the Republic. Women, in hearing myths like that of Lucretia, were expected to uphold the virtues that the Republic prescribed, for example pudicitia 'the concept of a woman's chastity and modesty being paramount to her respect in society, is shown clearly as being held in high esteem, to the point at which Lucretia killed herself to retain her innocence'. Roman society, history shows, held women and their bodies not as their own, but as belonging to their husbands and fathers, to be used, administered and regulated for the good of the Republic. Rape, for most women, would not be avenged, and whilst Rome had a court for adultery, it did not for rape. The art of the time corroborates that idea, that rape, whilst being considered 'immoral', is not seen as emotionally traumatising; the varying examples of the Hersilia myth show us that women who are rape victims, even on a divine level, are seen to be blessed, they have children, they are catalysts for the growth of the Roman Republic. Hersilia was amongst the women raped in the Rape of the Sabine Women in the early days of Rome. Women in the reality of ancient Rome had no rights over their reproductive systems, and were often forced to resort to backstreet abortions, who used the 'knitting needle technique'. This shows modern historians that Lucretia, in the fact that her rape was avenged in such a vehement manner, was an outlier, and that the real women of Republican Rome were afforded no freedoms over their bodies.

Virgil's account of Queen Dido in the Aeneid also shows Roman Heroines as subscribing to the virtues held in disregard for women in Roman society; Dido taints her husband's memory in falling for Aeneas and in doing so falls victim to lust. She is also seemingly a foil to Aenaeas' calmness, order and control in that she is seen to be passionate and to an extent, volatile. Dido is a clear example of a strong willed, independent woman in Roman literature and myth, she is a Queen, and reflects the role in her behaviours. In the Roman Republic, women were not afforded the education, the time, nor the rights to be independent, strong willed, or passionate, unless they were born into the higher strata of the social system; even then they were repressed and viewed as lesser than men. Indeed, throughout Roman society, there seems to be a lower proportion of women to men, suggesting that people must have been choosing to raise their male progeny, but not the female 'richer, more elite families often did not raise all their children, as a way to ease the inheritance'. Selective Infanticide, of course, is not the only possible cause of this low proportion. The acceptable age for conception was 15, as the Roman physician Soranus opined, and of course childbirth is a huge mortality risk in itself, let alone at an age when one is not necessarily ready for it. Women in Roman society'real women' were not able to have the same levels of freedom in their lives as Dido, and the laws and restrictions around marriage were also more complex than her example might show. Marriage for Roman women, was an affair entirely out of their hands, their fathers chose a suitable match and that was that. Once married, women had slightly more freedom in that they were able to socialise in and around their community with other women and their daughters. Of course, Dido was a queen, so one cannot reasonably make a comparison between her and a 'real Roman woman'. Roman women, whilst having more freedom than their Greek counterparts, in that society protected them to a further extent, still had few rights and representations over their life and mortality.

Vesta is the one Roman Deity, and mythical woman that we can gain some semblance of the 'ideal Roman woman' from 'she is the Roman equivalent of Hestia', and is the Goddess of the home and hearth. The idea that the hearth and the fire that perpetually burned in it was sacred in Roman society, and was associated with Vesta, who was the patron saint of domesticity, as well as her other roles. Vesta was also the goddess associated with the Vestal Virgins 'real Roman women', despite being from selective backgrounds, they represented a diverse range of society, from noblewomen, to freedwomen. They were responsible for maintaining the Temple of Vesta, keeping her flame alive, fetching water from a holy spring, amongst other duties. These women were notably free from their father's rule, and they had the capability to manage their own property, something that was not the case for the rest of Roman women under the general rules of society. The punishments for violating the strict code of chastity were severe, vestal blood was seen as belonging to the goddess, so was not to be spilled. Rather, the vestals were buried alive, and if they failed to fulfil their duties, they were severely beaten. An example of a mythical vestal could be Rhea Silvia 'she was raped by Mars, giving birth to Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome'. Vesta, in the myth, was so enraged by the unchaste act that she extinguished her holy flame, closed the eyes of her statue, and caused her altar to shake. Again, this reinforces the virtue of chastity upon Roman women. Vesta and Rhea Silvia can be seen as holding similarity to the lives of Roman women, the Vestal Virgins.

In summation, Roman Heroines and women of myth, largely, do not provide accurate representation of the lives of 'real' Roman women. They are often representative of the paradigms that the Republic associates with good women and their myths often hold virtue and the consequences of 'sin' or violating those virtues. Dido showed lust and went mad, Lucretia was unchaste and killed herself to maintain her innocence. Women in Rome, despite these virtues, had few rights and representations: they were forced to carry to term pregnancies in their early teens, or make use of a back-street abortionist, both had a heavy mortality rate. Prejudices and neglect began from the moment they were born selective infanticide was a reason behind the ratio of men to women in ancient Rome being so out of proportion. However, in some instances like Rhea Silvia, or the goddess Vesta, the lives of ordinary Roman women are reconstructed to a certain degree of similarity. On the whole, no the women of Roman myth cannot reconstruct the lives of the ordinary Roman woman.