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Pompeii, frozen in time and perfectly preserved, is uniquely placed to offer insights into aspects of the ancient world that are often overlooked. This was the thesis behind last year’s exhibition at the Palestra Grande, The Other Pompeii (CWA 125), which focused on the city’s less wealthy inhabitants. Now the same approach has been applied to Pompeii’s women and girls, using archaeological discoveries to draw out details of their daily lives and the positions they occupied in Roman society.
In the home
The exhibition documents every stage of women’s lives, beginning at birth. Childbirth was an important, and dangerous, part of life in the ancient world, posing considerable risk not just to the mother, but also to the child. Infant mortality was high, and girls appear to have been at a further disadvantage, judging by a Roman law that forbade the infanticide of male children but did not extend this to female offspring except in the case of the firstborn. However, daughters could be a source of joy, as we see in a graffito in a small room in Regio VII, which celebrates the birth of baby girl called Juvenilla. There were other women present in the delivery room, too. A set of forceps, which looks startlingly similar to the modern equivalent, may have been used by one of the many women who served as midwives in ancient Pompeii. Elsewhere, we have another piece of medical equipment: a spatula that bears the inscription ‘Sperata’: this is the only doctor’s name known from ancient Pompeii and it belongs, remarkably, to a woman.
The next major milestone for many Roman women was marriage. Following a complex series of rituals, a young woman (sometimes very young – preparation for marriage could begin as early as 11 or 12 years old) became a ‘matron’. The matron was a figure strongly associated with the domestic sphere: she held the keys to the house and was responsible for its day-to-day running, managing staff, and often controlling the household finances as well. Weaving and spinning to make clothes for the family was another of the matron’s responsibilities. Such textile work was a traditional symbol of matronly virtue, and its importance is reflected in the quantity of spindles, whorls, distaffs, bobbins, and loom weights discovered in homes around the city. Women were also expected to keep up certain beauty standards, and many associated objects have been unearthed in Pompeii, from make-up and unguent bottles to combs, hairpins, needles, and mirrors, as well as jewellery, which played an important part in the image of a high-status Roman woman. There are numerous frescoes and statues, too, that demonstrate the changing fashions in female hairstyles and clothing over time. A well-off matron had opportunities for leisure activities as well, including making music, painting, shopping, and spending time with friends.
However, the archetypal Roman matron was not alone in the domus. She would have been surrounded by female slaves and servants, ranging from nurses who cared for the children to attendants who helped with textile work and maids who assisted with personal grooming. Others worked in the kitchens, preparing and serving meals, and some were expected to provide sexual services to the household as well, as is believed to be the case for a slave girl called Eutychis, whose name is mentioned in a piece of graffiti at the House of the Vettii.
In the public sphere
Outside the home, Roman women were subject to various legal and societal restrictions. Nonetheless, there were many who appear to have wielded considerable financial, social, and even political influence. Eumachia was one of most important women in Pompeii in the early imperial age, famed for commissioning and funding the construction of a monumental building on the eastern side of forum for the benefit of the city. Eumachia was also one of several noble matrons from prominent families who were awarded the title sacerdos publica (‘public priestess’), suggesting that, unusually for women in the Roman world, they could play an active role in religious ceremonies.
We know of other women, too, at various levels of society, who ran businesses with great success. One, named Holconia, who came from the prominent Holconii family, was entrusted with management of their brick and ceramic factories, and numerous tiles have been found stamped with her name. Another, Julia Felix, established a thriving real-estate enterprise by renting out spaces in her property, which occupied a whole block of Regio II: a large inscription on the wall outside describes the spacious bathhouse, shops, and apartments on offer. Lower down the social order, women were frequently involved in food retail. A woman called Asellina ran one of Pompeii’s most famous bars, a fact she proudly proclaimed on the sign outside. Asellina also involved herself in politics – as much as a woman could – by having a message painted on the wall of the tavern encouraging customers to support her preferred candidate in the elections for public office. And, of course, we cannot overlook the world’s oldest profession. Numerous graffiti refer to Pompeii’s sex workers, of whom there were at least a hundred, ranging from the older women who haunted the city’s cemeteries offering their services for pennies to those, like Fortunata, who reportedly charged 23 asses.
Finally, some women are most visible in the memorials they left behind after death. Mamia, another of Pompeii’s ‘public priestesses’, constructed a schola tomb directly outside the Porta Ercolano on public land granted to her for her generosity towards the city. Nearby, a freedwoman named Naevoleia Tyche built herself a second funerary monument, covered with decorations proudly proclaiming her and her husband’s rise through society. We are reminded, though, of the thousands of women who lacked the resources to create a lasting memorial, as well as all of those who lost their lives in the eruption of Vesuvius.
Whether we know their names and faces or their identities have been lost to time, the women of Pompeii are, at last, being restored to their rightful place in the story of the ancient city.
DETAILS:
Essere donna nell’antica Pompei
Address: Palestra Grande, Pompeii
Open: until 31 January 2026
Website: https://pompeiisites.org/en/exhibitions/being-a-woman-in-ancient-pompeii/
Text: Amy Brunskill
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