<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS Gothic";
panose-1:2 11 6 9 7 2 5 8 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Aptos;
panose-1:2 11 0 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@MS Gothic";
panose-1:2 11 6 9 7 2 5 8 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#467886;
text-decoration:underline;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-ligatures:none;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style>
</head>
<body lang="EN-AU" link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#212121">Dear Friends of Classics and Ancient History,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="color:#212121"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="color:#212121">We are delighted to invite you to the seventh presentation of Semester 1, 2025 in our Classics and Ancient History research seminar series.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="color:#212121"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>May 12th (Monday, 12.15pm UTC+10) <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><o:p><span style="text-decoration:none"> </span></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Please note that this seminar will be on ZOOM ONLY</u></b><b><u><span style="font-family:"MS Gothic""><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Tamara Lewit (University of Melbourne) <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>“She must remain as little as possible in one place”: The work of a female overseer (vilica) on a Roman estate<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#212121"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#212121">Zoom link: <a href="https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/83159864939" title="https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/83159864939"><span style="color:#96607D">https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/83159864939</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Abstract: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Although much historical and archaeological work has examined Roman farming, very little attention has been paid to the roles of the female overseer (vilica). Yet this important figure is attested across
five centuries and is the subject of an entire book of the Roman agronomist Columella’s De re rustica. Less than half a dozen scholarly papers have been dedicated to the vilica, and all focus almost entirely on her relationship to the male overseer (the vilicus).
Her roles on the farm have remained unexamined, and modern writers have characterised her work as confined to the supervision of the women and domestic labour inside the house, especially cleaning, the food eaten by the household, and textile making. My paper
will challenge this characterisation, arguing that it arises from a misreading of Columella’s text. By combining textual, iconographic and archaeological evidence, we can in fact see that the vilica oversaw not the “house” or the “domestic sphere”, but rather
a range of vital productive activities on the farm. In particular, she seems to have had charge of the oil and wine making and was responsible for carrying out important rituals linked to production.
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Dr Tamara Lewit is an Honorary Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London. She specializes in the study
of the Roman to late antique countryside and her publications include ‘A child’s eye view: making Roman children visible in children’s literature’ (Classicum 49.1 2024); ‘Innovation in wine-making technologies: The role of local artisans and farmers’ in D.
Van Limbergen, E. Dodd and M. S. Busana (eds) Vine-growing and winemaking in the Roman world (Peeters, 2025); and in press ‘Peopling the countryside: the everyday experience of rural life’, in G.W. Tol and A. Van Oyen (eds) Roman Rural Archaeology: Society,
Economy, and Culture (Cambridge University Press).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Best, Ben<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>