DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0276
208
Roman Africa
learn from contemporary writers that they contributed in a
large measure to lower the tone of public morality, and to pro-
mote a system of corruption baneful to the Empire. The little
we learn from the pages of Herodian about the younger sister,
who took up her quarters in the Imperial Court by the favour
of the Emperor Septimius Severus, portrays a strong-minded,
self-willed, unscrupulous woman, tactful in her operations, and
seizing her opportunities of acquiring wealth or power without
regard for the interests of others. Such was the weisdit of her
o o
authority that Severus gave her the distinguished title of
Augusta, and when she died peacefully in old age and one of
the wealthiest women of her time, the Senate bestowed on her
memory divine honours. The name of Julia Maesa appears in
a few inscriptions in North Africa. At the camp at Lambaesis
she is described as Augusta avia domini nostri and Mater
Castrorum et Senatus. This dedication may be assigned to the
reign of her grandson Elagabalus, A.D. 21S-222. Her daughter,
Julia Sosemias, sometimes written Scemis according to Dion
Cassius, was another Empress conspicuous for activity and
intrigue during the last days of the reign of her husband Caracalla
and their son Elagabalus. But her record in Africa is restricted
to one inscription found at Lambaesis, where she is styled Julia
Socemias Augusta mater Augusti nostri. Far more noteworthy
and deserving honourable recognition was the career of Julia
Mammaea, the younger sister of Sosemias, and the distinguished
mother of the renowned Emperor Alexander Severus. The
story of her life, handed down to us by Herodian and other
writers, reveals a woman of indomitable will, ambitious of
supreme power, and of unbounded avarice. For a space of five-
and-twenty years these four women, in their relations as grand-
mothers, aunts, or mothers of Emperors, may be said to have
ruled the world. In the Senate-house, the camp, or public
ceremonials, they were present to share the honours and privileges
of empire. In the palace their authority was paramount, and
the will of a woman became the will of a submissive Emperor.
Julia Domna did not hesitate to take a seat in the Senate-house
at Rome, and her niece Sosemias founded and presided over a
female parliament in the Quirinal, to regulate what we should
call in modern life the social and moral habits of a female
aristocracy.
Roman Africa
learn from contemporary writers that they contributed in a
large measure to lower the tone of public morality, and to pro-
mote a system of corruption baneful to the Empire. The little
we learn from the pages of Herodian about the younger sister,
who took up her quarters in the Imperial Court by the favour
of the Emperor Septimius Severus, portrays a strong-minded,
self-willed, unscrupulous woman, tactful in her operations, and
seizing her opportunities of acquiring wealth or power without
regard for the interests of others. Such was the weisdit of her
o o
authority that Severus gave her the distinguished title of
Augusta, and when she died peacefully in old age and one of
the wealthiest women of her time, the Senate bestowed on her
memory divine honours. The name of Julia Maesa appears in
a few inscriptions in North Africa. At the camp at Lambaesis
she is described as Augusta avia domini nostri and Mater
Castrorum et Senatus. This dedication may be assigned to the
reign of her grandson Elagabalus, A.D. 21S-222. Her daughter,
Julia Sosemias, sometimes written Scemis according to Dion
Cassius, was another Empress conspicuous for activity and
intrigue during the last days of the reign of her husband Caracalla
and their son Elagabalus. But her record in Africa is restricted
to one inscription found at Lambaesis, where she is styled Julia
Socemias Augusta mater Augusti nostri. Far more noteworthy
and deserving honourable recognition was the career of Julia
Mammaea, the younger sister of Sosemias, and the distinguished
mother of the renowned Emperor Alexander Severus. The
story of her life, handed down to us by Herodian and other
writers, reveals a woman of indomitable will, ambitious of
supreme power, and of unbounded avarice. For a space of five-
and-twenty years these four women, in their relations as grand-
mothers, aunts, or mothers of Emperors, may be said to have
ruled the world. In the Senate-house, the camp, or public
ceremonials, they were present to share the honours and privileges
of empire. In the palace their authority was paramount, and
the will of a woman became the will of a submissive Emperor.
Julia Domna did not hesitate to take a seat in the Senate-house
at Rome, and her niece Sosemias founded and presided over a
female parliament in the Quirinal, to regulate what we should
call in modern life the social and moral habits of a female
aristocracy.