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Gendered Rhythms in the Urbs: An Intersectional and Temporospatial Analysis of Female Visibility during Religious Activity in Urban Spaces in Republican Rome
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 October 2025
Abstract
This article offers an intersectional and temporospatial analysis of female visibility during religious activity in urban spaces in Republican Rome. The focus is on the regular religious activity of prominent female religious officials – Vestals, flaminica Dialis, and regina sacrorum – and collectives of women – married and enslaved women – as religious activity and roles could empower some women, and provide regular opportunities for visibility in the city. I argue that such an approach and focus reshape our understanding of the visibility of women in urban spaces, challenging traditional scholarly views of female domesticity and invisibility. A temporospatial lens reveals that women of various roles and statuses were regularly visible in a wide array of urban spaces, seemingly irrespective of their public, private, or sacred nature. There appears to have been limited spatial segregation by gender. Instead, a woman’s intersectional statuses and temporality were key dimensions differentiating female visibility. There was no singular gendered rhythm, but plural rhythms in interaction and conflict, and female religious officials played key roles in directing these rhythms and bringing harmony to the religious calendar. Futurity and the preservation of the community lay at the core of this female religious activity. Ultimately, time’s place was pivotal.
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- © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies.
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