The Voice of Matrons. Women’s Identity and Emancipation in Republican Rome

The paper aims to reconstruct the value code of Roman women who were expressions of the elite and consequently the identity that being recognized for themselves and the identity, not always coinciding, attributed to them by the male component of society. It investigates the roles reserved for these women in the community and on the concept of female emancipation referable to matrons. These issues will be examined through the analysis of significant episodes in republican history and in particular through the study of speeches given by men and relating to women and especially speeches given by women in which women exceptionally had the opportunity to claim firsthand their rights and position in society.

Keywords: Lex Oppia, Emancipation, Female Identity, Roman Republic, Hortensia, Porcia.