Pompeia Helena
Pompeia Helena was a goldsmith, who worked in Rome during the time of the Roman Empire, around the first century CE.
Death[edit]
Pompeia Helena is only known from her grave inscription in Rome, where she is identified as an aurifix (goldsmith).[1] The inscription appears as part of the monument to Marcella, daughter of Octavia, which is found in the second section of the columbaria of Vigna Codini.[2] She is believed to have been a freedwoman, from the Pompeia family.[3]
The inscription reads:
- Pompeia Cn (aei) l (iberta) Helena
- aur (i) ficis Caesaris [4]
Other artisans are found as part of the same monument, including: a margaritarius (pearl diver; pearl dealer), two vestiarii (clothes sellers), two unguentarii and a thurarius (frankincense dealer).[2] The mosaic floor includes an inscription that indicates a terminus ante quem of 10 CE.[5][6]
Historiography[edit]
Pompeia Helen is not the only woman known to have worked as a goldsmith in Ancient Rome, others included: Serapa, Sellia Epyre, Vincentia.[7] However, doubt has been placed on her role by John K Evans, who questioned whether aurifix means goldsmith in this context, or whether it might mean "custodian of gold ware".[8]
References[edit]
- ^ Holman, Lindsay (2015). "Roman Freedwomen: Their Occupations and Identity". cdr.lib.unc.edu: 15. doi:10.17615/kweh-gw67. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
- ^ a b PEREZ GONZÁLEZ, Jordi (July 2017). "Aurifices en la Roma Julio Claudia. La fiebre del oro romana". Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica (in Spanish). 23 (1): 37–70.
- ^ Monika Eichenauer: Untersuchungen zur Arbeitswelt der Frau in der römischen Antike (= Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe 3: Geschichte und ihre Hilfswissenschaften 360; Zugleich: Dissertation Universität Graz 1987). Verlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1988, ISBN 3-8204-1175-5, S. 127; 130.
- ^ CIL VI, 4430
- ^ Coarelli, Filippo (2014). Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 374–6.
- ^ Borbonus, Dorian (2014). Columbarium Tombs and Collective Identity in Augustan Rome. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Marconi, Clemente (2015). The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-19-978330-4.
- ^ Evans, John K. (2014-02-04). War, Women and Children in Ancient Rome (Routledge Revivals). Routledge. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-317-81029-2.