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Women and their Role in Burial in Roman Liburnia

The Roman society was well-known for its attitude towards women, which was usually built on the common belief that men were stronger, more reasonable, capable and basically more important. However, other societies treated women differently, and pre-Roman Liburnians (people inhabiting the territory spanning from the river Raša to the river Krka in modern Croatia) were one of such societies. As ancient sources indicate, Liburnian women had much more freedom, which led Pseudo-Scylax (Periplus, c. 21) to claim that the Liburnians had a matriarchal society. After the Roman conquest, the Liburnians were quickly incorporated in the Empire, although reflections of some autochthonous traditions remained long after the organization of provinces (e.g. Liburnian names, mostly female deities, traditional clothes, etc.). The change in burial rituals was at that time quite dramatic and more or less quick (depending on the urbanisation of the area) with the Liburnians mostly forgoing their burial traditions and accepting Roman types of tombs, sepulchral monuments and a completely new and uncommon incineration rite. In this Romanized world Liburnian women had to find their place. This paper will, therefore, explore the role of women in this new historical context (the Principate period), specifically their influence and participation in burial rituals, their sepulchral inscriptions and monuments and the question whether or not the more egalitarian attitude towards women survived the Roman expansion.

Roman Liburnia, women, burial rituals, autochthonous traditions, sepulchral monuments

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