UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Women in Roman Syria The cases of Dura-Europos, Palmyra, and Seleucia on the Euphrates Klaver, S.F. Publication date 2019 Document Version Final published version License Other Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Klaver, S. F. (2019). Women in Roman Syria: The cases of Dura-Europos, Palmyra, and Seleucia on the Euphrates. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:04 Oct 2021 Women in Roman Syria: the cases of Dura-Europos, Palmyra, and Seleucia on the Euphrates Sanne Klaver WOMEN IN ROMAN SYRIA: THE CASES OF DURA-EUROPOS, PALMYRA, AND SELEUCIA ON THE EUPHRATES ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. ir. K.I.J. Maex ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op donderdag 21 maart 2019, te 12.00 uur door Sanne Fenna Klaver geboren te Monnickendam PROMOTIECOMMISSIE: Promotor: prof. dr. E.A. Hemelrijk, Universiteit van Amsterdam Copromotor: dr. L.A. Dirven, Universiteit van Amsterdam Overige leden: prof. dr. T. Kaizer, Durham University prof. dr. J.-B. Yon, Université de Lyon prof. dr. C.A. Chavannes-Mazel, Universiteit van Amsterdam prof. dr. V.V. Stissi, Universiteit van Amsterdam dr. D.W.A.G. van den Heuvel, Universiteit van Amsterdam dr. M. Icks, Universiteit van Amsterdam dr. L. de Jong, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Faculteit: Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen For this research I have received additional financial support from the Art, Books & Collections Foundation, Jo Kolk Studiefonds, Amsterdams Universiteitsfonds, and OIKOS, the National Research School in Classical Studies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writing of this dissertation was a long and complicated process that I enjoyed, but it was also difficult at times. Many people and institutions made this research possible and supported me in various ways and I would like to thank them here. My research focused on women and, interestingly, it were mainly women who proved to be indispensable, which I think is a nice coincidence. First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my co- promotor Lucinda Dirven, whose knowledge and enthusiasm on Roman Syria seems to be limitless. I greatly admire her expertise and academic output. She first inspired me to write my Master’s thesis on Dura-Europos, and her endless support also proved to be the driving force behind this present research. With joy, I remember the many conferences on Dura-Europos or Palmyra that we attended together. Her openness in introducing me to the international field of Durene and Palmyrene scholarship is truly inspiring and these conferences turned out to be the academic highlights of the last five years. Her hospitality has no limits, since she also invited me to her home in Italy for a writing session. Even when I felt hopeless at times, Lucinda was always ready to talk about my research, often combined with many cappuccinos. I truly hope that after completing this research, we can continue our relationship as colleagues and friends. Secondly, I would like to thank my promotor Emily Hemelrijk, whose meticulous reading and thought-provoking questions greatly improved this manuscript. Her knowledge on women in the Latin West is vast and was of great help while studying women in Roman Syria. On a more personal note, I admire Emily’s dedication to our department, always advocating the importance of ancient history. Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude to Claudine Chavannes-Mazel, Danielle van den Heuvel, Martijn Icks, Lidewijde de Jong, Ted Kaizer, Vladimir Stissi, and Jean-Baptiste Yon for participating in my dissertation committee. This dissertation was financed by the Amsterdam School of Historical Studies at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam. Both the academic staff and its supporting staff make this school an inspiring work environment. Although most of my research was done in Amsterdam, at times I travelled to collections outside of the Netherlands. Twice I was welcomed by the staff of Yale University Art Gallery to study the Dura-Europos collections and its archive. I would very much like to express my gratitude to Lisa Brody, Megan Doyon, and Susan Matheson for welcoming me to Yale and for permitting me to study Dura’s materials. I also enjoyed my discussions with Carol Snow, the deputy chief conservator, on the restorations of Dura’s wall paintings. I would also show my appreciation to the staff of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, who allowed me to study their Palmyrene collection and their library. From its welcoming staff, I especially would like to thank Mogens Jørgensen. For my doctoral education, I followed three master classes at OIKOS: I am grateful for the stimulating presentations and excursions in Oxford, Rome, and Athens, which were a pleasant change of pace. Going to conferences and meeting up with scholars with similar interests has been the academic highlight for me over the past five years. The Palmyra Portrait Project was kind and generous for giving me the opportunity to participate in several of their wonderful conferences and workshops. For this I would like to express my gratitude to its director Rubina Raja. I met Signe Krag on several occasions, first as a fellow PhD student and later as an assistant professor of the Palmyra Portrait Project and I greatly enjoyed her company. I appreciated our conversations on women from Palmyra; but much more, I enjoyed our dinners (accompanied by wine) discussing the pros and cons of academia. While attending these Palmyrene conferences, I truly appreciated the conversations with Nathanael Andrade, Eleonora Cussini, Lucinda Dirven, Maura Heyn, Ted Kaizer, Signe Krag, Aleksandra Kubiak-Schneider, Rubina Raja, and Jean-Baptiste Yon, and many more. In regards to Durene scholarship, I have had the pleasure to meet many of the leading scholars during our meet- ups in London, Durham, and New Haven. I am thankful that they made me feel very welcome. In particular I would like to thank Jen Baird, Lisa Brody, Gaëlle Coqueugniot, Lucinda Dirven, Leonardo Gregoratti, Simon James, and Ted Kaizer. Throughout the past five years, the following colleagues have contributed in one way or another to my dissertation. I would like to thank my colleagues from the ancient history department at the university for their support: Lucinda Dirven, Anique Hamelink, Emily Hemelrijk, Rianne Hermans, Lina van ‘t Wout, Maithe Hulskamp, Martijn Icks, Karel Innemée, Diana Kretschmann, Kit Morell, Sofie Remijsen, Hans van Rossum, Konstanze Schiemann, Anna Sparreboom, Marlena Whiting, Christina Williamson, and our librarian Ewa Zakrzewska. Mathieu de Bakker of the Amsterdam Centre for Ancient Studies and Archaeology at the University of Amsterdam, Anna Duijsings, and Ramon Selles have helped me on several occasions regarding the Greek inscriptions, for which I am grateful. Nathanael Andrade from Binghamton University has kindly looked at my Palmyrene inscriptions and translations. Michael Blömer from Aarhus University, Kutalmis Görkay from Ankara University, and Hüseyin Yaman from Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University have all kindly shared their research materials and results regarding Seleucia on the Euphrates, which I greatly appreciate. Due to several reasons, a research trip to Adana and Gaziantep was not possible and so, their materials proved to be essential for my study on Seleucia. I would also like to thank Meltem Uçar from Mersin University and Güher Gürmen from the Netherlands Institute in Turkey and Bülent Taştan for all their help. Finally, I would like to thank Richard Martin from Stanford University, Onno van Nijf from Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Nicholas Purcell from Oxford University, and Danielle Slootjes from Radboud University for their comments on my work during one of OIKOS’s masterclasses. I have greatly enjoyed my contact with the fellow PhD students at the Amsterdam School of Historical Studies. Whether it was during lunch or drinks, it was always nice to talk to peers. At times it feels that I could not have completed this manuscript without the support of the ladies from PCH 4.60 and, later, Bushuis D0.09. We shared many laughs, and at times tears, coffee, beer, wine, and short walks. With enjoyment, I remember the dance moves demonstrated in our office. So thank you to Rianne Hermans, Martje aan de Kerk, Karlijn Olijslager, Marianne Ritsema van Eck, Konstanze Schiemann, and Anna Sparreboom. Although all of these ladies are important to me, I would like to single out Martje to thank her for her kindness, support, humour, and uplifting character during my times of struggle. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy; therefore, my friends were indispensable. First of all, Miranda Bloem and Anne van Egmond, whom I met during my studies and both finished their PhDs before me. It is nice having friends who know the process of writing a dissertation and I have enjoyed our many meetings, which were always accompanied by food, drinks, and the occasional game of Yahtzee.