Myths and Mortals (Greek Mythology)

~Ancient Woman~ (Roman and Greek)

Medea

1. Medea may have killed her brother after she betrayed her father. It therefore should not be too surprising that Medea, as the woman scorned, did not exhibit what we think of as motherly instincts. When the Argonauts arrived at Medea's homeland of Colchis, Medea helped Jason steal her father's golden fleece. She then fled with Jason and may have killed her brother in her escape. She lived together with Jason like a married couple long enough to have two children, but when Jason wanted to officially marry a more suitable woman, Medea committed the unthinkable and murdered their children.

Veturia with Coriolanus

2. When Gnaeus Marcius (Coriolanus) was about to lead the Volsci against Rome, his mother -- risking her own freedom and safety as well as those of his wife (Volumnia) and children -- led a successful delegation to beg him to spare Rome.

Cornelia

3. After her husband died, Cornelia, known as the "mother of the Gracchi," devoted her life to the upbringing of her children (Tiberius and Gaius) to serve Rome. Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi

Agrippina the Younger - Mother of Nero

4. Agrippina the Younger, great-granddaughter of Augustus, married her uncle Claudius in A.D. 49. She persuaded him to adopt her son Nero in 50. Agrippina was accused by early writers of murdering her husband. After his step-father Claudius' death, Emperor Nero found his mother overbearing and plotted to kill her. Eventually, he succeeded.

St. Helena - Mother of Constantine (Roman)

5. St. Helena was the mother of the Emperor Constantine and may have influenced his conversion to Christianity. We don't know if St. Helena was always a Christian, but if not, she did convert, and is credited with finding the cross on which Jesus was crucified, during her lengthy pilgrimage to Palestine in 327-8. During this trip Helena established Christian churches. Whether Helena encouraged Constantine to convert to Christianity or it was the other way round is not known for sure.

Galla Placidia - Mother of Emperor Valentinian III

6. Galla Placidia was an important figure in the Roman Empire in the first half of the fifth century. She was first a Gothic hostage and then the wife of a Gothic king, she was made "augusta" or empress, and she served actively as regent for her young son when he was named emperor. The Roman Emperor Valentinian III (Placidus Valentinianus) was the son of Emperor Honorius' sister Galla Placidia.

Cybele - Great Mother

7. A Phrygian goddess like the Greek Rhea, Cybele is Mother Earth.

Mother Giving Birth

8. Valerie French, in "Midwives and Maternity Care in the Roman World," gives as a worse case projection that 5% of babies born in ancient Greece and Rome may have died before they reached the age of one month, and 5 out of 20,000 women would die. For information on obstetrics we have Pliny the Elder, Soranus, Celsus, and Galen. Objects considered beneficial for speeding delivery included hyena's feet, snake sloughs, canine placentas, sticks, and vulture feathers. During the actual delivery there were three women on the sides and back of the paturient, with the midwife in front.

Julia Domna

9. Julia Domna was the wife of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus and the mother of Roman emperors Geta and Caracalla.

Syrian-born Julia Domna was a daughter of Julius Bassianus, who was a high priest of the sun god Heliogabalus. Julia Domna was the younger sister of Julia Maesa. She was the wife of Roman emperor Septimius Severus and the mother of Roman emperors Elagabalus (Lucius Septimius Bassianus) and Geta (Publius Septimius Geta). She received the titles Augusta and Mater castrorum et senatus et patriae 'mother of the camp, senate, and country'. After her son Caracalla was assassinated, Julia Domna committed suicide. She was later deified.

An old article that shows inscriptions referring to Julia Domna is "Studies in the Lives of Roman Empresses," by Mary Gilmore Williams. American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1902), pp. 259-305

Julia Soaemias

10. Julia Soaemias was the daughter of Julia Maesa and Julius Avitus, wife of Sextus Varius Marcellus, and mother of Emperor Elagabalus. ulia Soaemias (180 - March 11, 222) was the cousin of the Roman emperor Caracalla. After Caracalla was assassinated, Macrinus claimed the imperial purple, but Julia Soaemias and her mother contrived to make her son Elagabalus (born Varius Avitus Bassianus) emperor by claiming that Caracalla had actually been the father. Julia Soaemias was given the title Augusta, and coins were minted showing her portrait. Elagabalus had her take a place in the Senate, at least according to the Historia Augusta. The Praetorian Guard killed both Julia Soaemias and Elagabalus in 222. Later, Julia Soaemias' public record was erased (damnatio memoriae).