Introduction: rich feamales in Rome had their hairdressers and dressmakers whom generally had been slaves. Dressmakers and hairdressers had been during the beck and call of mistresses whom might be demanding. A mistress whom found her coiffeur unsatisfactory wouldn’t normally wait to beat her servant. Many slaves who passed away kept no trace of the presence, with the exception of possibly a tombstone erected by way of buddy or other slave. The epitaphs from the two tombstones being cited here are, very very first, for a dressmaker known as Italia and, 2nd, for a hairdresser known as Psamate. Note exactly just just how young these were once they passed away; Italia had been twenty and Psamate just nineteen.
To Italia, dressmaker of Cocceia Phyllis. She lived 20 years. Acastus, her fellow slave, taken care of this tombstone because she ended up being bad.
Psamate, hairdresser of Furia, lived nineteen years. Mithrodates, the baker of Flaccus Thorius, create this tombstone.
Supply: Jo-Ann Shelton, “Working Women, ” in while the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History. 2nd ed. (Ny: Oxford University Press, 1998): 303–304.
If a lady’s spouse passed away, she became popular her stola and replaced it having a ricinium, a term produced from the Latin verb meaning “to toss right back. ” The ricinium had been a shawl manufactured from a square bit of cloth which a lady folded after which tossed straight straight back 1 / 2 of it evidently over her neck. Putting on it had been an indication of mourning and so it absolutely was most likely dark-colored, made of wool which was obviously dark. [Read more...]