THE PROJECT
The database & the team
About
Although the presence of women in the public life of cities in the Greek East has been examined in the last few years, no comprehensive study exists concerning “old Greece” (the Roman provincia Achaea). Existing studies concentrate on female public presence in other parts of the Roman Empire, such as Asia Minor, the Cyclades, or the Latin West, or – in the case of portrait statuary – on a certain statuary type or type of sculpture. Thus, the “Greek Matronae” project comes to fill an existing gap in modern research.
The abundant epigraphic and archaeological evidence document beyond doubt that women played an important role in the civic life of the Greek poleis of the imperial period, principally as benefactresses and priestesses of both traditional gods and the imperial cult. The fact that these “Greek matronae” took active part in civic life not only in connection with male members of their family, but also independently should not come as a surprise.
The research program “Greek Matronae: Female Civic Presence and Self-Representation in Imperial Greece (1st - 3rd c. CE)” aims to document the “public presence” of women,
that is, the civic functions assumed by women, honors bestowed to them by the civic bodies of the polis and private individuals, and their visual representation in related monuments and the public sphere in general, with a special focus on the “interaction” between epigraphic texts (base) and the selected statuary (body) and head-types in female portraiture.
More specifically, through the systematic analysis of the available epigraphic, literary, numismatic and archaeological evidence, we focus on two main axes:
- document and interpret the presence (or not) of wider changing trends – social, political, ideological and artistic – in the civic presence and visual representation of women in the province of Achaea between the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial periods,
- explore the existence (or not) of differences in female civic activity and self-representation from a geographical point of view, for example differences between distinct geographical regions (e.g. Asia Minor or the Latin West and Greece). By analogy, possible differences within the province of Achaea, pointing to local social peculiarities or predilections in artistic taste are equally explored.
THE PROJECT
Database
Registrations
One of the results of the “Greek Matronae” research program is the present open access database which contains material relevant to the subject of the study. More specifically, it includes all inscriptions attesting female civic presence in the cities of the Roman province of Achaea. These consist mainly of honorific inscriptions (set up by women or in honor of women) and votive inscriptions to deities, dedicated by women. Each entry includes the epigraphic text, the inscription’s type, its date, findspot and current storage place, the name of the woman, her civic presence (social role represented), as well as bibliography and a short commentary. In this way, the visitor can obtain a complete picture of every woman who was publicly active in Roman Achaea during the reference period.
In addition, all surviving female portrait sculpture from the province is equally included. All known examples of female portrait statues, preserving either the body or the head of the statue or sometimes both are catalogued. Each entry gives not only basic information about the piece (current place of storage, material, dimensions, findspot, date etc.), but is also accompanied by additional information such as (when applicable) the original place of display of the statue, its statuary type and mode of self-representation, the female social role it represents and the existence or not of an inscribed base, as well as bibliography and commentary.
The database is intended to be updated regularly. For instructions on how to use it, please consult the “Guidelines” section.
It should be noted that since the boundaries of the province of Achaea did not remain stable throughout the Roman imperial period, only the core regions that uninterruptedly stayed within the province are treated in the research (i.e. the southern part of mainland Greece, from Aitolia to Boeotia, Euboea, Attica and its dependencies, and the Peloponnese). This allows us to explore more concretely the forming and subsequent change of local idiosyncracies, and draw sound conclusions based on the comparison with other provinces and regions of the Roman Empire. Lastly, owning to the fact that the effects of the Empire-wide 3rd c. CE social and economic crisis had become evident by the middle of the century, again clarity of conclusions led us to set the end of the Severan dynasty as the lower chronological limit for our study (235 CE).
PEOPLE
Meet the team
Panagiotis Konstantinidis is the Post-Doctoral researcher responsible for the archaeological documentation of the “Greek Matronae: Female Civic Presence and Self-Representation in Imperial Greece (1st - 3rd c. CE)” research project, conducted in the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF). He has taught Classical Archaeology as adjunct faculty member at the Open University of Cyprus, the Athens School of Fine Arts, and the University of West Attica. Furthermore, he has worked as a researcher at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, and has taken part in excavation campaigns in Greece and Egypt. He has participated in numerous international conferences in Greece and abroad, and has published a monograph on the Hellenistic and Roman Sculpture from the island of Melos (2016) and various articles in peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes and conference proceedings. His PhD thesis entitled Female Dynastic Portrait Statues of the Roman Imperial Period from Greece (late 1st c. B.C – 5th c. A.D.) (in Greek) is currently in press in the Sophia Saripolou Library series of the Saripoleion Bequest NKUA. His research interests focus on Greek and Roman sculpture, Roman portraiture, female public representation during the Roman Imperial Period in Greece, ancient Greek religion and votive practices, and religious iconography.
• Female Dynastic Portrait Statues of the Roman Imperial Period from Greece (late 1st c. B.C – 5th c. A.D.), Athens 2024: Sophia Saripolou Library Series of the Saripoleion Bequest, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (Ph.D. thesis in Greek in press).
• Hellenistic and Roman Sculpture from the Island of Melos, Athens 2016: Bookstars (in Greek).
• “Religious Syncretism in Late Roman Achaea: Reconsidering the Identity of Isthmia IS 445”, in G. Kremer, E. Pollhammer, F. Beutler, J. Kopf (eds.), Zeit(en) des Umbruchs. Akten des 17. Internationalen Kolloquiums zum provinzialrömischen Kunstschaffen, Wien – Carnuntum 16.–21.05.2022 (SoSchrÖAI 64 - Veröffentlichungen aus den Landessammlungen Niederösterreich 7), Wien 2024, 263-276.
• “What Dreams May Come. An Incubation Relief from the Asklepieion of Epidauros”, Kernos 35 (2022), 233-261.
• “Hadrianic and Antonine Imperial Portrait Sculpture”, in A. Kouremenos (ed.), The Province Achaea in the Second Century CE: The Past Present , 193-222 London & New York 2022: Routledge.
• “Ο γλυπτός διάκοσμος της Βασιλικής Στοάς στη Θήρα”, in D. Damaskos, P. Karanastasi, Th. Stephanidou-Tiveriou (eds.), Πλαστική στη ρωμαϊκή Ελλάδα: νέα ευρήματα και νέες έρευνες. Διεθνές αρχαιολογικό συνέδριο, Αθήνα, 12-14 Δεκεμβρίου 2019 , Thessaloniki 2022, 165-182.
• “A Fragmentary Portrait Statue of a Roman Emperor from the Island of Melos”, Eidola 11 (2014), 95-120.
• “Un relief tardo – romain de Mélos au Musée national archéologique d’Athènes”, BCH 135.1 (2011), 283–311.
Dr. Giorgos Mitropoulos is the Principal Investigator of the Research Project ‘Greek Matronae: Female Civic Presence and Self-Representation in Imperial Greece (1st - 3rd c. CE)’, conducted in the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF). He has taught Ancient Greek and Roman History in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the University of Crete as Adjunct Faculty Member. His PhD thesis concerned the imitation of the Roman emperor (imitatio principis) in the Greco-Roman East (31 B.C. – A.D. 235) and it was published in Greek by the Series of the Saripoleion Bequest (2023). He has published various papers in international, peer-reviewed journals of Ancient History, including ZPE, Klio and SCO, as well as in edited volumes.
Moreover, he is currently conducting post-doc research on the worship of the imperial virtues in the Greco-Roman East, in the University of Athens. He has participated in numerous international conferences and in many other research projects, including the publication of the votive inscriptions of Philippi in collaboration with A. Rizakis and F. Camia. More information and most of his publications can be found in his academia page: https://eie.academia.edu/GiorgosMitropoulos
• ‘Between Tradition and Change: The imitatio principis in the Imperial East’, in S. Betjes, O. Hekster, E. Manders (eds.), ‘Tradition and Power in the Roman Empire’, Proceedings of the Fifteenth Workshop of The International Network Impact of Empire, Nijmegen, 18-20 May 2022, Brill: Leiden – Boston, 2024, 186-207. • ‘Krinagoras and Imperial Glory: An Interplay Between Irony, Mockery, and Flattery’, Pnyx 2, 2023, 1-19.
• ‘Politics of the Past: Marcus Aurelius and Commodus in Achaea’, in A. Kouremenos (ed.), ‘The Province of Achaea in the Second Century CE: The Past Present’, Routledge: London – New York, 2022, 143-165.
• ‘Reflections of the Emperor’s Image in the Roman East: Notes on the Representation and the Imitation of Imperial Qualities’, in A. Gangloff (ed.), ‘Miroirs au prince. Les figures du bon empereur dans les inscriptions, d’Auguste au début du règne de Constantin’, Proceedings of a conference at Florence, Villa Finaly, 17-18 October 2019, Brill: Leiden – Boston, 2022, 180-204.
• ‘Some Notes on Gytheion’s ‘lex sacra’ and Germanicus’ Nike’, ZPE 219, 2021, 88-94.
• ‘The Imperial Qualities in Roman Greece (31 BC – AD 235): The Evidence and a First Assessment’, SCO 66, 2020, 173-201.
• ‘The Sphinx and the She-wolf: Some Remarks on Aetolian Politics after the Antiochian War’, Klio 101 (1), 2019, 77-106.
