Graduation Year
2020
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Classical Studies
Reader 1
Michelle Berenfeld
Reader 2
Jody Valentine
Reader 3
Ellen Finkelpearl
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
2020 Maggie J Bynum
Abstract
The Sebasteion at Aphrodisias is a large temple complex located in present-day Turkey. It was constructed over a 40 year period during the Julio-Claudian dynasty (c. 20-60 C.E.). The Sebasteion was dedicated to the Julio-Claudian emperors, the Greek goddess Aphrodite, and the people of Aphrodisias, and therefore exemplifies Roman imperial power in the Greek East. Women are popular subjects in the114 Sebasteion reliefs and statues, but previous scholarship has neglected to examine the intersection of patriarchy, status, and imperialism in the context of a free but incorporated city, such as Aphrodisias. This thesis argues that the imperial agenda of the early Roman Empire was reinforced by patriarchal representations of women as both agents and objects of the Roman Empire’s power in relief panels of Claudius and Britannia, Nero and Armenia, Claudius and Agrippina, Aphrodite and Roma, Augustus and Nike, and the Emperor and People or Senate.
Recommended Citation
Bynum, Maggie, "Embodiment of Power: Representations of Women in Relief Panels from the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias as Personifications of Roman Imperial Influence" (2020). Scripps Senior Theses. 1531.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1531
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
