Een wereld van verschil? Vrouwen in de locale steden van het Romeinse rijk

Our view of Roman women is to a large extent determined by the literary sources, which mostly deal with women in exceptional positions, such as empresses, in Rome. This article discusses the role of women in the numerous cities of Italy and the Latin-speaking provinces of the Roman Empire in the first three centuries AD. It is argued that, unlike the capital, the local cities offered wealthy women ample scope for a public role: as civic priestesses, city-patronesses and benefactresses they greatly enhanced their prestige receiving public honours such as statues which, in the capital, were bestowed only on the members of the imperial family.