PS10 Women and Architecture in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds 11:00am - 1:10pm Thursday, 30th April, 2020 Location Salon B, 2nd Floor Track Track 2 Session Chair Kriszta Kotsis, Brenda Longfellow

All session times are in US PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME (PDT).

11:05 - 11:25am

PS10 Queenly Gifts to Golden Sardis: Stratonike and Cleopatra

Fikret Yegül University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

Abstract

A rare form of dedication found in the Temple of Artemis at Sardis is a marble ball bearing the inscription “Gift of Stratonike, daughter of Demetrius...” It is datable to early third-century BCE, probably soon after the Lydian metropolis came under Seleucid power. While some questioned the authenticity of the dedication because the name of Stratonike’s royal husband Antiochus is absent, others found her sense of independence reflected in her desire to be identified as the “daughter of her father,” rather than a “model wife of her husband,” subtly refreshing. She was married first to Seleukos I, who conquered much of western Asia Minor, before he divorced her in 293 BCE so that his love-struck son, Antiochus I, could marry his stepmother. This beguiling queen— whose life-story inspired generations of artists and writers—resided in their newly acquired Seleucid capital at Sardis and honored the Goddess Artemis-Kybele with an exceptional temple, a circumstance little known or discussed. Her generosity to other urban and religious projects in and outside Sardis was equally remarkable although the record remains buried among the pages of epigraphic publications. She died in Sardis in 254 BCE. Stratonike, as she strolled the gardens of her royal palace in Sardis, must have remembered the tragic fate of her Macedonian kinswoman Cleopatra II (the sister of Alexander), who was exiled in Sardis for political reasons, barely two generations earlier, and assassinated by Antigonus “Monophthalmus,” Stratonike’s grandfather, who feared her power and intelligence. It is instructive to ponder the fate and circumstances of these two fiery “northern” queens. For one, who built lavishly and achieved the companionship and protection of the great goddesses, Croesus’ golden city was an aerie; for the other, who had no record of such patronage or divine connections, it was a gilded cage. 11:25 - 11:45am

PS10 Wanted Dead or Alive: Posthumous and Lifetime Benefactions by Women in the Roman Empire

Rachel Meyers Iowa State University, Ames, USA

Abstract

Women across the Roman Empire donated goods, architectural structures, and money both while alive and through testamentary bequests. For example, the well-known patroness Eumachia gave funds during her lifetime for the construction of a large building dedicated to Concordia Augusta and Pietas in the heart of Pompeii, while Julia Antonia Eurydice left money in her will for the complete renovation of the gerontikon (‘council chamber’) in Nysa in Asia Minor. What prompted one woman to bestow her patronage posthumously? Did the region or time in which she lived or societal customs inform her decision? While a number of studies in the last 15 years have catalogued and discussed financial donations by women, none closely examines the distinction between benefactions made by a woman while living or after her death. Through the analysis of inscriptions that record architectural donations, I ascertain whether making posthumous gifts was more common in particular time periods or regions. The outcome of this research is a contribution to the body of research engaged with determining what female patronage tells us about Roman society. In certain situations a woman may have established a fideicommissum to transmit her wealth for her intended donation after her death. Thus, the trends in female-sponsored benefaction inform us about the social, legal, and financial status of women. Close analysis also reveals whether geographical differences influence a woman’s status as well as the nature of her dedication. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of more than one thousand inscriptions and also the results of four case studies. 11:45am - 12:05pm

PS10 Anikia Juliana’s matronage: tradition and innovation

Maureen McGuire University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, USA

Abstract

The church of St. Polyeuktos in , reconstructed in the early 6th century by Anikia Juliana, descendant of the Theodosian imperial family, was one of the most lavish buildings of its time. Yet both then and in more recent years, her matronage was overshadowed by male patronage: shortly after she rebuilt St. Polyeuktos, Emperor Justinian paid for the construction of SS Sergios and Bakchos and the reconstruction of and the Holy Apostles, all of which rivaled Juliana’s work and antagonized the claims of her family to the imperial throne. While Martin Harrison, the excavator St. Polyeuktos in the 1960s, argued that Juliana’s church inspired Justinian’s Hagia Sophia, more recent scholarship has obscured her contribution, following the widespread tendency to elevate the work of men and depreciate the work of women and even characterize it as anomalous. In this paper I argue that Juliana’s matronage was both traditional and innovative and exerted a strong influence on Justinian’s most prestigious ecclesiastical projects in Constantinople. Juliana followed the long practice of architectural matronage among her Theodosian female ancestors, which was also shared by imperial women dating back to Livia, wife of . In addition, the plan, decoration, and ideological underpinnings of St. Polyeuktos took pre-existing models in daring new directions, pushing Justinian himself to take his own architectural projects one step further. Thus, although Juliana’s church today survives only in ruins, her matronage left a lasting imprint on Byzantine culture through its impact on the patronage of her famous imperial rival, and especially his rebuilding of Hagia Sophia which centuries later inspired the response of the Ottoman mosques. Considering that at the root of all these world-renowned buildings lies Juliana’s St. Polyeuktos, her matronage should be recognized as truly transformative and far reaching. 12:05 - 12:25pm

PS10 Women Builders: Convents in Constantinople

Cecily Hennessy Christie's Education, London, United Kingdom

Abstract

This paper considers the role of women in the funding, designing, building, and use of Byzantine convents from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. Convents were arenas where women could construct impressive and richly endowed churches, hospitals, living quarters and walled enclosures for themselves. Of the five Byzantine convents for which we have the foundation typika (rule books), four were built by women in Constantinople. The original documents include evidence for the building plans and their working use. The earliest, known as Kecharitomene (full of grace) was built in the early twelfth century by the empress Irene Doukaina Komnene (d. 1138), wife of (1081-1118). In the typikon she emphasizes that she is the driving force behind the construction, writing, ‘I built the holy convent’ and ‘the dormitories recently built by my majesty’. She also had an eye for maintenance and restoration. Two convents were founded by the Theodora Palaiologina (d. 1303), widow of VIII (1261-82). At the end of the thirteenth century, she refounded the monastery built by Constantine Lips in the tenth century and added on a second church; both churches survive. The newer church functioned for 150 years as the imperial family mausoleum. She also refounded the monastery of Saints Cosmas and Damion. The latest of the four convents, probably founded about 1300, was dedicated to the Mother of God Bebaia Elpis (Good Hope) by a niece of Michael VIII, Theodora Palaiologina Synadene. An illustrated copy of the typikon survives (Oxford, Lincoln College, Ms. Gr. 35) with a compelling illumination showing the foundress presenting a model of her new convent’s church to the Mother of God, pictured on the facing page. Discussed together, these foundation documents and extant structures offer insight into the important contribution of female builders and users of Byzantine architecture.