Female head covering in the Early Imperial Period

120 Pages·2014·1.04 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Smith

FEMALE HEAD COVERING IN
THE EARLY IMPERIAL PERIOD:
QUESTIONS OF THE COVERED
‘OTHER’ AND THE IDEAL OF
AUGUSTAN WOMANHOOD.
Elizabeth Smith, BA (Macquarie)

OCTOBER 10, 2014
ARTS
Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Research
Department of Ancient History, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, Sydney
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For Sam

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Contents
Thesis Summary .................................................................................................................................... vii
Declaration ............................................................................................................................................ ix
Translations ........................................................................................................................................... xi
Citations ................................................................................................................................................. xi
Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................ xi
Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................................................xiii
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Chapter One: Review of Current Scholarship ......................................................................................... 5
Studies on head covering in Rome ..................................................................................................... 5
Aphrodite’s Tortoise and the ‘Western’ discourse on head covering .............................................. 13
Review of terminology ..................................................................................................................... 19
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 20
Chapter Two: Approach and methodology: language and the construction of identity ..................... 21
Research strategy and selection of sources ..................................................................................... 21
Formal analytical processes.............................................................................................................. 23
Key definitions and conceptual frameworks .................................................................................... 24
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 30
Chapter Three: Early imperial poetry: the amictus, palla, and the ‘deviant’ versus ‘ideal’ female. .... 31
The amictus ...................................................................................................................................... 34
The palla ........................................................................................................................................... 47
Infulae and Vittae ............................................................................................................................. 56
The mitra .......................................................................................................................................... 62
The flammeum ................................................................................................................................. 65
Conclusion: ....................................................................................................................................... 68
Chapter Four: The early imperial discourse on covering: custom, metaphor and gender. ................. 71
Uncovered and loose hair at funeral events .................................................................................... 72
Garments and gestures in the metaphors and imagery of covering ................................................ 77
Attitudes to covering: perspectives from Sulpicia and Valerius Maximus ....................................... 83
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 92
Conclusion and Opportunities for further research. ............................................................................ 95
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 99

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Thesis Summary
This thesis examines the nature of the literary evidence for female head covering in early
imperial Rome (defined for this purpose as 31 BC- AD 68) via a socio-cultural analysis of
early imperial poetry. Data is collected from searches in the Thesaurus Latinae Linguae (TLL)
for the terms amictus, palla, infula, vitta, mitra and flammeum. Patterns as to the use of
these head covering garments and adornments to characterise female protagonists in early
imperial poetry are analysed and early imperial attitudes to covering are determined. It is
proposed that attitudes to covering in early imperial Rome were not beholden to a single
perspective and concluded that a complex discourse on covering existed in early imperial
literature. The approach of the thesis is informed by a post-colonial feminist reading of
Orientalism that allows for critique of previous scholars who have ‘other-ed’ ancient women
vis-à-vis the use of terms such as ‘veil’. Application of this reading to the early imperial
corpus elucidates information about gender roles in the Augustan era and provides insight
into ancient Rome as a nuanced culture that possessed an array of social roles, values and
ways of making meaning.

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Declaration

I, Elizabeth Smith, certify that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any
other university or institution.

Date: 09/10/2014

Signature:

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