THE STATUS of ACTRESSES in EARLY CHRISTIAN SOCIETY* by DOROTHEA R. FRENCH Recent Studies on the Christia

MAINTAINING BOUNDARIES: THE STATUS OF ACTRESSES IN EARLY CHRISTIAN SOCIETY*

DOROTHEA R. FRENCH

Recent studies on the Christianization of the Roman Empire have shed important light upon the conversion of such groups as the educated elite and women.' There has been, however, little scholarship devoted to the impact of Christianity upon the lower classes.z This study makes a contri- bution toward that broader field of scholarship by examining the social and legal status of actresses who were near the bottom of the social scale. Did the Christian concept of baptism as a ritual which completely washed away a person's past have a significant impact on improving the social and legal status of actresses in late antiquity? One of the most important sig- nifyers of the measure of both classical and Christian attitudes toward actresses is the marriage codes because the law clcarly draws the boundary

* I would likc to thank Elizabeth dark and Susan Ashbrook Harvey for reading an earlier draft of this article and offering valuable suggestions. I See especially Peter Brown, Powerand persuasionin late antiquitytowards a C7iristiart empire(Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992) and M.K. Hopkins, "Elite Mobility in the Roman Empire," Past and Present32 (1 965),12-26 on the educated elite. Among the numerous studies on women sec: Antti Arjava, "Women in the Christian Empire: Ideological Change and Social Reality," StPatr 24 (1991), 6-9; Gillian Cloke, ThisFentale Man of God.-Women and SpiritualPower in thePatristic A.D. 350-450 (London: Routledge, 1995); Averil Cameron, "Early Christianity and the Discourse of Female Desire," in Leonie J. Archer, Susan Fischler, and Maria Wyke, eds., Womenin Ancient Societies:"An illusionof the (Basingstoke:Macmillan, 1994); Elizabeth A. Clark, "Sexual Politicsin the Writings of John Chrysostom,"Anglican 77leological Review 49 (1977), 3-20; Judith Herrin, "Public and Private Forms of Religious Commitment among Byzantine Women," in Womenin AncientSocieties, 181-196; and Frederick C. Klawiter, "The Role of Martyrdom and Persecutionin Developingthe PriestlyAuthority of Women in Early Christianity: A Case Study of Montanism," GH 49 (1980), 251-261. 2 See the pioneering study of P.R.C. Weaver, Familia C'ae.saris:A socialstudy of the emperor's,freedmertand slaves(Cambridge: University Press, 1972); and T'.M. Finn, "Social Mobility, Imperial Civil Service and the Spread of Early Christianity,".ftPatr 17:1 (1982), 3 I -35. 294 line between who is accepted and who is excluded in society. Beginning in the first century actresses were classed as infamous persons and thus prohibited from contracting a marriage with a freeborn person. Did the marriage of Theodora, a former actress, to Justinian in 524 C.E. offer women of the stage an unprecedented opportunity to improve their legal and social status in early Byzantine society as some scholars have assumed?' By examining a wide spectrum of sources, including marriage codes from the first through sixth centuries, the writings of the Church Fathers, and the Lives of actress/prostitutes this study concludes that the majority of actresses in early Byzantine society suffered the same negative social and legal prejudices they had since the time of Augustus. Theatrical performances, ludi scaenici, were an integral part of the public spectacles which characterized Roman civic life.' The games and their attendant rituals were impressive religious and ceremonial occasions that helped to reaffirm the existing order by forging a bond between the emperor, the leading men of the empire, and the inhabitants of the cities.' While the games in general helped to support the existing political and cosmic order, the theatre itself served as a vehicle for the inculcation of classical culture and values. It was largely from the theatre that the common folk learned mythology." '1'he most popular theatrical performances of the imperial period were pantomimes, farces, and mimes. 'I'he principal form of comedy was the mime whose subject matter came from every day urban life as well as myths. Virtually all of the theatrical conventions of the early drama disappeared in the mimes. Actresses, mimae, now played the female roles. Discarding the traditional masks and costumes that had been an integral part of the theatre from its origins, performers wore the contem-

3 A. Vasiliev,Justin the First:an Introductionto the Epochif Justinianthe Great(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1950), 395. ' J.P.D.V. Balsdon, Lifeand Leisureat Rome(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969), 267-68; Paul Veyne, Lepain et le cirque(Paris: Scuil, 1976) 15; (:laude Lepelley,Les cites de l'Alfrique romaineau bas empire(2 vols.; Paris: Etudes augustiniennes, 1979), 1.210, 299; S.R.F. Price, Ritual and Power:7he Romanimperial court in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 101, 127-128;and Fergus Millar, TheEmperor in the RomanWorld ( 1 sted.; London: Duckworth, 1977), 39. .? Pricc, Ritual and Catherine Bell, Ritual 77;gory,Ritual Practice(New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 193-196 discuss the role that ritual plays in legitimating the political order. '' Blake I.eyerle, AsceticPantomime: JohnCïl1ysostom Against Spiritual Marriage (Ph.D. diss., Duke University, 1991), 47. See also Minos Kokolakis, "Pantomimus and the Treatise 7tfpl 'OpX1Íafffiç,"Platon 10-11 (1958-59),21.