[Usyd_Classics_Events] Reminder: USYD Classics Research Seminar: Aug 22, Honorary Associate Prof. Kathryn Welch

[Ben Brown]

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
School of Humanities (SoH)

Classics and Ancient History
[The University of Sydney]
[Quadrangle]

Classics and Ancient History Seminar Series

USYD Classics Research Seminar: Aug 22, Honorary Associate Professor Kathryn Welch, 4pm AEST (UTC +10)

Dear Friends of Classics and Ancient History,
You are cordially invited to the third Classics and Ancient History research seminar of semester 2, 2024.

Thursday August 22, 4pm AEST (UTC+10)
V. Gordon Childe Centre Boardroom, Level 4, Madsen Building and Zoom: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/82326237855<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/-aUlCq71mwfLZp2kXSZfWuETPFC?domain=t.e2ma.net>

Kathryn Welch (University of Sydney)
Nothing to do with the Lex Oppia: Women, Civil War, and the Discourse of Saving the City

Abstract:
Why insert a discussion of the fictional debate with which Livy opened Book 34 into a paper about Roman women and civil war? It is not as if that story is not rich enough on its own. Appian’s (and other) tales of women (good and bad) from the proscriptions of 42, the evocative Laudatio Turiae, along with many other monuments attest the significance of women - and in particular women with money - in the history of civil war. After tracing some of that history and its aftermath, this paper will argue that Livy really wants to argue one side of a debate which was at its height in the 20s BCE: what was the appropriate role for the formidable female survivors of civil war in the new order. We will demonstrate that rather than seeing the Lex Oppia debate as a contest between the elder Cato and the tribune Valerius in 195 BCE, it should be read (following Hopwood 2015) as an attempt to pitch the Triumvirs against Hortensia, leader and spokesperson for Rome’s women in the famous female anti-triumviral protest of 42. Livy’s choice reveals that, far from siding with Augustus (or his champion Horace) in blaming the lax morals of women for civil war, he commends not only Hortensia and her companions but also those women who throughout Roman history had acted collectively to save the city from disaster. By ensuring that Valerius/Hortensia won the day in 195, he also enabled the women of Rome to dictate at least some of the terms of their case.

Biography:

Honorary Associate Professor Kathryn Welch retired from the Department of Classics and Ancient History in 2021. Since then, she has continued to work on her specialist field of Triumviral politics and historiography as well as developing a concurrent interest in how nineteenth century narratives have distorted our understanding of the Roman past - especially in relation to women. She has also enjoyed co-writing papers with former students (with Carol Scott in the forthcoming Webb/Steel volume - see below - and Hannah Mitchell in the forthcoming Oxford History of the Roman World. This afternoon presents work from a third co-authored project, this time with Lewis Webb.

Dr Lewis Webb is a Departmental Lecturer in Roman History at Merton College and the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford.  His research interests include the histories and voices of women in ancient Rome, civic religion and crisis management in the Roman Republic, and the material culture of ancient Etruria and Thessaly. He is a series editor for Women in Ancient Cultures (Liverpool University Press) and is currently working on a co-edited volume on Women, Wealth, and Power in the Roman Republic.

Papers this semester will be presented on campus live streamed via Zoom (unless otherwise indicated). The on-campus location will either be the V. Gordon Childe Centre Boardroom, Level 4, Madsen Building, or the School of Humanities Common Room (Room 822, Mungo MacCallum Building).
The Zoom address for this and all sessions during semester 2 is: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/82326237855<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/RCQRCr81nytwE5mn2Tzh4u4sVOu?domain=t.e2ma.net>

For further information, email: benjamin.brown at sydney.edu.au<mailto:benjamin.brown at sydney.edu.au>

All best,
Lila, on behalf of Dr Ben Brown


DR BEN BROWN
Senior Lecturer, Classics and Ancient History
Honours Coordinator, School of Humanities (SoH)
Co-director Critical Antiquities Network
THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY NSW 2006


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