Mothers and Daughters in Antiquity

This illustrated paper explores the unusual emphasis on imperial mothers and daughters in second-century Rome. With the inception of the dynastic Principate women became key players in Roman politics (e.g., Severy 2003; Milnor 2005), and throughout the first century imperial women’s depiction in arts, documents, and literature predominantly stressed their relationship to men, especially sons. Their roles as carriers and nurturers of sons and “princes” was foremost: for instance, on a coin of 13 BCE Julia I appears flanked by her sons Gaius and Lucius (BMC 1, no.

Recent research into Hellenistic dynasties has emphasized an understanding of the tensions, discord, civil strife, and weakening of royal houses caused by polygamy (e.g. Ogden 1999). At the center of this body of research lies the father-son bond, which could be considerably weakened by the fact that kings often had multiple wives who championed their own sons. Far less attention has been paid to key mother-daughter relationships in the Ptolemaic dynasty.

Despite Anyte’s prominent place in Meleager’s Garland, modern scholars have not generally given her epigrams the same attention and approbation as her Hellenistic contemporaries, Erinna and Nossis. Feminist scholars have re-evaluated Anyte’s worth, considering her to be an influential and innovative poet (Snyder 1989; Barnard 1991; Gutzwiller 1998). These scholars have shown how Anyte may be the first epigrammatist to “project a distinct literary persona,” defined specifically by feminine sensibilities and values.

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the goddess Rhea plays a crucial role in convincing her daughter Demeter to put aside her anger and return to the company of the gods. Rhea’s significance to the hymn as a whole, particularly her mother-daughter relationship with Demeter, has largely been overlooked. While scholars have generally focused on Rhea’s role as Zeus’ final messenger to Demeter, Rhea’s importance as a mother figure is signaled much earlier in the poem when Demeter is twice referred to as the “daughter of lovely-haired Rhea” (Ῥείης ἠυκόμου θύγατερ, H.H.Dem. 60, 75).