A tale of two wives (and four husbands?): the story of two exceptional women from Imperial Rome

by Chiara Cenati and Davide Massimo

Latin and Greek inscriptions are often inaccessible for those who are not from the field. This is particularly true for verse inscriptions. Long texts engraved on stone, often difficult to read, even more obscure when it comes to deciphering their meaning. Therefore visitors of our archaeological museums usually pass by rows of inscriptions without paying much attention to them. 

Inscriptions, however, are potentially among the most fascinating documents from antiquity. They carry evidence on regular people and on their everyday life, especially verse inscriptions, which tell us much more than inscriptions written in prose. 

That’s why within the MAPPOLA project we have tried to make these texts containing verses, the most popular form of art, more understandable to everybody. And we are doing this through the technique of storytelling in this blog, with videos, and experimenting different types of storytelling with children. 

Our latest output is a short documentary film which tells the stories of two exceptional women from Imperial Rome as told by two verse inscriptions (in Latin and Greek) preserved at the Museo Nazionale Romano (Rome). These women, Allia Potestas and Flavia Sophe, though in very different ways, seemingly embraced unconventional marriages and had unconventional relationships, the details of which remain mysterious for us. The film has been written by Dr Davide Massimo (Classics and Archaeology – University of Nottingham), Dr Chiara Cenati and Mirko Tasso (Ancient History – University of Vienna), who feature in the film. It was directed by Federico Zanotti with the assistance of Daniele Comelli. The film was funded by the Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies of the University of Vienna and supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture – Museo Nazionale Romano, the University of Nottingham, and the British School at Rome. It was officially released on the Youtube channel of the University of Nottingham in December 2023.

Allia Potestas, former slave of Allius (who is possibly the author of the poem), is praised in the first inscription as a perfect woman, devoted to her household duties; at the same time, however, she has a fierce character, a charm which is described with erotic overtones, and is said to have managed two lovers in her household (l. 28, haec duo dum vixit iuvenes ita rexit amantes). This last detail has led to many speculations. It is possible that we are dealing with an example of polyandry and these two were both in a relationship with Allia – which is the hypothesis that is mentioned in the short film – although there have been other interpretations as well, from the ones interpreting the word ‘lovers’ only metaphorically to the ones increasing the number of lovers to three. 

Flavia Sophe is a woman who took part in a ritual called the ‘bridal chamber’, which was typical of the Valentinian Gnostics, a heretic group gathered around Valentinus, bishop in Egypt in the 2nd century AD. This ritual was aimed at reuniting the soul with its place of origin and to allow for a reunion with the Aeons, mystical entities which played a key role in Gnostic theology. It seems that the story is told by Flavia’s husband, although the details are hard to grasp, and even more since part of the inscription has been lost. 

The common denominator of these two stories – besides the Museum gallery in which they are both displayed – is the fact that they are both narrated by two men, in both cases probably the husbands of the women concerned. This narrative layer complicates the picture further. How much of the stories is true? How much is filtered by the men’s point of view? Despite these lingering doubts, there is no question that the inscriptions throw a new and different light on women’s life in ancient Rome, which make them extremely modern and fascinating. 

We really hope that you will enjoy this short film  and that you will share your opinion with us by leaving a comment on Youtube. 

If you are a teacher or if you work in a museum we would also be particularly grateful if you could share with us your experience with your pupils or museum visitors by sending us an email (chiara.cenati@univie.ac.at or davide.massimo@nottingham.ac.uk). 

You can find below a text and a translation of the two inscriptions below, together with some bibliographical resources. 

The inscription for Allia Potestas

Dis Manib(us)
Alliae A(uli) l(ibertae) Potestatis.
Hic Perusina sita est qua non pretiosior ulla.
Femina de multis vix una aut altera visa
sedula. Seriola parva tam magna teneris.
crudelis fati rector duraque Persiphone,
quid bona diripitis ex(s)uperantque mala?
Quaeritur a cunctìs iam respondere fatigor;
dant lachrimas, animi signa benigna sui.
Fortis, sancta, tenax, insons, fidissima custos,
munda domi, sat munda foras, notissima volgo,
sola erat ut posset factis occurrere cunctis;
exiguo sermone inreprehensa manebat.
Prima toro delapsa fuit, eadem ultima lecto
se tulit ad quietem positis ex ordine rebus.
Lana cui e manibus nuncquam sine caussa recessit,
opsequioque prior nulla moresque salubres.
Haec sibi non placuit, numquam sibi libera visa.
Candida, luminibus pulchris, aurata capillis,
et nitor in facie permansit eburneus illae,
qualem mortalem nullam habuisse ferunt,
pectore et in niveo brevis illi forma papillae.
Quid crura? Atalantes status illi comicus ipse.
Anxia non mansit, sed corpore pulchra benigno.
Levia membra tulit, pilus illi quaesitus ubique.
Quod manibus duris fuerit, culpabere forsan:
nil illi placuit nisi quod per se sibi fecerat ipsa.
Nosse fuit nullum studium, sibi se satis esse putabat;
mansit et infamis, quia nil admiserat umquam.
Haec duo dum vixit iuvenes ita rexit amantes,
exemplo ut fierent similes Pyladisque et Orestae:
una domus capiebat eos unusque et spiritus illis.
Post hanc nunc idem diversi sibi quisq(ue) senescunt;
femina quod struxit talis, nunc puncta lacessunt.
Aspicite ad Troiam, quid femina fecerit olim!
Sit precor hoc iustum exemplis in parvo grandibus uti.
Hos tibi dat versus lachrimans sine fine patronus
muneris amissae, cui nuncquam es pectore adempta,
quae putat amissis munera gratia dari;
nulla cui post te femina visa proba est;
qui sine te vivit, cernit sua funera vivos.
Auro tuum nomen fert ille refertque lacerto,
qua retinere potest auro conlata potestas.
Quantumq(ue) tamen praeconia nostra valebunt,
versiculis vives quandiucumque meis.
Effigiem pro te teneo solacia nostri,
quam colimus sancte sertaque multa datur;
cumque at te veniam, mecum comitata sequetur.
Sed tamen infelix cui tam sollemnia mandem?
Si tamen extiterit, cui tantum credere possim,
hoc unum felix amissa te mihi forsan ero.
Ei mihi! Vicisti, sors mea facta tua est.
Laedere qui hoc poterit, ausus quoque laedere divos;
haec titulo insignis, credite, numen habet.

To the Di Manes of Allia Potestas, freedwoman of Aulus
Here is buried a woman of Perugia, than whom there was no other more treasured 
Female; out of many score, one or two seem 
(As) energetic. You, so great a woman, are contained in a little urn. 
Cruel ruler of Fate and harsh Persiphone
Why do you plunder what is good and why do evils flourish? 
It is asked by all; I am (too) tired to reply. 
They offer tears, indications of their kindly state of mind. 
She was strong, pure, frugal, innocent, a most loyal guardian. 
She was very neat at home, as out of doors, and was (for this) most well-known at large 
To a unique degree, so that she could cope with all tasks. 
She was uncensured because she attracted little gossip, 
She was the first to slip from her bed; she was likewise the last there 
To return to rest when affairs had been set in order. 
The wool never left her hands without a cause; 
No-one was before her in deference or in salubriousness of morals. 
She never had a high opinion of herself, she never fancied herself a free woman. 
She was beautiful with lovely eyes, was golden-haired, 
There was an ivory gleam in her face 
Such as they say no mortal had, 
And on her snow-white breasts the shape of her (?) nipples was small. 
What about her legs? She had quite the pose of Atalanta on the comic stage.
She was not sparing, but generous with her lovely body. 
She kept her limbs smooth and the hair was sought out everywhere. 
That she had hard hands you will perhaps reprove her, 
Nothing satisfied her except what she had herself done for herself. 
She had no passion for making acquaintances; she thought she was sufficient unto herself. She had no (bad) reputation, because she had never done anything wrong. 
She while she lived so managed her two young lovers 
That they became like the model of Pylades and Orestes. 
One home contained them and there was one spirit between them. 
After her, now these same two grow old apart from each other, 
What such a woman wrought, now cruel words tear. 
Look what a woman once wrought at Troy. 
I beg that it may be right to use mighty comparisons in little matters.
These verses your patron weeping without end gives you, 
By way of gift to you who are lost, your patron from whose heart you have never been taken,
Which he thinks are welcome gifts to be given to those who are lost, 
To whom no woman has seemed good after you, 
Who lives without you and living beholds his own end. 
In gold he bears your name everywhere on his arm
In so far as he can retain it – POTESTAS, matched with gold. 
However, as much as my praise may have power, 
You shall live as long as may be through my verses. 
In your place I hold an image of you to console myself 
Which I revere in holy manner and many a garland is offered, 
And when I come to you it will keep me company and follow. 
But unhappy I am: to whom shall I consign so sacred a duty? 
If however someone shall emerge to whom I can entrust so much
Happy as to that one thing I shall perhaps be though I have lost you. 
Woe to me. You have outstripped me. My lot has become yours. 
Who shall have dared harm this tomb has dared also harm the gods. 
Believe me, she, famed through this inscription, has power

(CIL VI 37965 = CLE 1988; EDR072588, TM263465; transl. Horsfall 1985)

The inscription for Flavia Sophe

Φῶς πατρικὸν ποθέουσα,
σύναιμε, σύνευνε Σόφη^μου,
Λουτροῖς χρεισαμένη Χ(ριστο)ῦ
μύρον ἄφθιτον, ἁγνόν,
Αἰώνων ἔσπευσας ἀθρῖ=
σαι θεῖα πρόσωπα,
Βουλῆς τῆς μεγάλης μέγαν
ἄνγελον, ὑϊὸν ἀληθῆ.
[Ἰς ν]υμφῶνα μολοῦσα καὶ εἰς
[παστ]οὺς ἀνοροῦσα
[Ἄφθαρτο]ς πατρικοὺς κα[ὶ . . ]
. . . . . . ον ἐστ[εφα]ν̣ώ[θης] 
[Σ . . . . . . ]ΗΠΡΟ . . .
Οὐκ ἔσχεν κοινὸν βιότου τέ=
λος ἥδε θανοῦσα·
κάτθανε καὶ ζώει καὶ ὁρᾷ
φάος ἄφθιτον ὄντως·
ζώει μὲν ζωοῖσι, θάνεν δὲ
θανοῦσιν ἀληθῶς.
γαῖα τί θαυμάζεις νέκυος
γένος; ἦ πεφόβησαι;

Longing for the Father’s light, my sister and spouse, Sophe, 
Anointed in the bath of Christ with ointment imperishable, holy, 
You were eager to see the divine faces of the Aeons, 
The great angel of the Great Council, the true Son.
Entering the bridal chamber and ascending, incorruptible, to the bridal bed of the Father … you were crowned …
No common end of life had she, this one who died;
She perished and yet lives, and sees truly imperishable light.
She lives among the living, but has died to those who are truly dead. 
Earth, why do you marvel at this sort of body? Are you frightened?

(CIG IV 9595a, IG XIV 2226, ICUR n.s. VI 15884; EDB12195, TM 301889; transl. Snyder 2014)

Bibliography:

Felle, A. (2020). ‘Examples of “in-group” epigraphic language: the very first inscriptions by Christians’, Journal of Epigraphic Studies, 3, 131-147. 

Friggeri e.a. (ed.) (2012). Terme di Diocleziano. La collezione epigrafica, p. 545-547 no. IX, (Evangelisti, Silvia – 2012);; pp. 576-578, IX, 31 (C. Noviello). 

Friggeri, La collezione epigrafica del Museo Nazionale Romano alle Terme di Diocleziano, p. 168-169 (Friggeri, Rosanna – 2001)

Horsfall, N. (1985). ‘CIL VI 37965 = CLE 1988 (Epitaph of Allia Potestas): A Commentary’, 

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 61, 251-272.

P. McKechnie (2001). ‘Flavia Sophe in Context’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 135, 117-124.

Snyder, H.G. (2014). ‘The Discovery and Interpretation of the Flavia Sophe Inscription: New Results’, Vigiliae Christianae, 68, 1-59.