Female Patronage in Late Antiquity

What is it about?

This paper examines how women in Late Antiquity signalled their social status using rank and titles in inscriptions recording donations to churches. Women are well-known for being active patronesses of the church in the late antique and early medieval periods, but it is often assumed that values of Christian humility and modesty meant that women would not choose to signal their earthly social status. This article shows that women proudly displayed these signs of rank, such as senatorial titles that they held by birth or by marriage, or titles they held in their own right through service to the imperial court or the Church.

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Photo by Torsten Dederichs on Unsplash

Photo by Torsten Dederichs on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This paper provides important new evidence for women's agency in Late Antiquity. Contrary to the frequent assumption that women in Late Antiquity lacked financial autonomy, or (being barred from the priesthood) were unable to attain prominence in the Church, or even that the use honorific titles reflects an exclusively male sphere of activity, this article shows the active role played by women as financers of church building and how they used that to secure prominence in their communities for themselves and their families, often independently of their husbands.