| Abstract | Many scholars have assumed that people living in the early Roman empire were largely immobile, outside of colonization or commercial activities, with only the highest classes of elites traveling occasionally. This research project focuses on women in the eastern Roman empire and aims to better understand their reasons for and types of movement. After a broad outline of types of examples, this information is placed in the context of mobile women in early Christian writings – specifically Romans 16, Acts, and the Acts of Thecla. For many of these women, their mobility is understudied or oftentimes ignored; however, this study seeks to enrich the women found in these writings – especially when only a few remarks are made about them in a text. It firmly establishes that women in first and second century CE assemblies both traveled and were viewed as involved in a wide range of categories of travel. This ranges from the short-term and permanent travel found in Rom 16. Acts, and the Acts of Thecla as well as forced and itinerant mobility in Acts and Acts of Thecla. Additionally, this furthers the conversation on women and their roles in early assemblies, including leadership positions. Travel, freedom of mobility, and responsibilities in assemblies like Rome that have high numbers of mobile women are important aspects of this conversation. This is another dimension particularly for Pauline assemblies and their leadership structures that has been underexplored. I have also mapped and calculated possibilities for various kinds of costs (such as monetary and time) to assist in understanding what resources women would need to have in order to travel, which adds to what scholars can say when attempting to determine status. Finally, this dissertation has continued to reassess the so-called public/private domain distinction. While this assumption has been questioned by more scholars in recent years, it is still firmly used by many. An in-depth exploration of where women can be found and why assists in continuing to break down this supposition. By using a feminist approach, I did not restrict myself to focusing on women only within the household or assuming that any women outside of it were a chance event. Rather, their existence is part of a larger trend in a rise in travel that applies to the Imperial era. These examples from early Christian literature can be added to the growing sub-discipline of female mobility in classical studies for a more robust understanding of the ancient world. |
