Marriage and families, political power and propaganda, and the pros and cons of being put up on a pedestal, literally -- these and other issues that concerned women living in the days of the Roman empire will be examined in a symposium being held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2, at the Yale University Art Gallery.
The event is being held in conjunction with the exhibit "I, Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome," which is on view at the gallery through Dec. 1. The sessions, which are free and open to the public, will be held 2:30-6 p.m. on Friday and 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Yale Art Gallery, corner of Chapel and York streets.
The event will begin on Friday with a segment titled "Women in Roman Egypt," which was organized by the staff of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Topics to be discussed include "Marriage Egyptian Style," "Widows Too Young in Their Widowhood" and "Women's Letters from Roman Egypt."
The remainder of the symposium was organized by the staff of the Yale Art Gallery. This portion includes the keynote lecture, "Livia to Helena: Women in Power, Women in the Provinces," which will be presented at 5:15 p.m. on Friday by Cornelius C. Vermeule, curator emeritus of classical art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Saturday's program will feature the following talks: 9:40 am. -- "Livia: Portraits and Propaganda"; 10:30 a.m. -- "Family Ties: Mothers and Sons in Elite and Non-Elite Roman Art; 11:40 a.m. -- "Architectural Sculpture of the Early Second Century A.D. Plotina, Sabina and Their Relatives"; 2 p.m. -- "Mortals, Emperesses, and Earth Goddesses: Demeter and Persephone in Public and Private Apotheosis"; 2:50 p.m. -- "The Elder Claudia: Older Women in Roman Art"; and 3:35 p.m. -- "The Female Nude in Roman Art."
Diana E.E. Kleiner, the Dunham Professor of Classics and the History of Art and deputy provost for the arts, and Susan B. Matheson, curator of ancient art at the Yale Art Gallery, will be among the featured presenters.
The symposium is cosponsored by the Yale Art Galley, the department of classics and the Office of the Provost. Funding was also provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.