This poster is based on my Research Essay of the title ‘Brickstamps as Evidence For Economic Agency of Women in the Roman World’ and explores how something as ordinary as bricks can reveal extraordinary stories about women’s lives, agency and role in ancient Rome’s building and construction economies.
Brickstamps are marks impressed into clay before firing in a kiln. Typically, they recorded the names of estate owners, the estate itself, brickyard production sites and their workshop managers. Ancient epigraphic evidence reveals the names of women such as Domitia Lucilla, mother of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Plotina Augusta, the wife of Emperor Trajan, and Acilia Malliola, from the eminent senatorial gens Acilia, as owners and managers of large brickmaking estates in ancient Rome.
The inscriptions on the bricks confirm that women played real and visible roles in the Roman economy with each brick not just a building block, but a lasting signature and an enduring reminder of how women helped shape the very foundations of Rome.
So, if you are an ancient history secondary school student or simply someone who has a keen interest in the ancient world, I hope you find this poster informative.
If you would like further detail on this topic then please feel free to read my Research Essay or get in touch with me.
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