Claudia Quinta on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Claudia Quinta was a Roman matron said to have been instrumental in bringing the goddess Cybele, "Great Mother" of the gods from her shrine in Greek Asia Minor to Rome in 204 BC, during the last years of Rome's Second Punic War against
Claudia Quinta was a Roman matron said to have been instrumental in bringing the goddess Cybele, "Great Mother" of the gods from her shrine in Greek Asia Minor to Rome in 204 BC, during the last years of Rome's Second Punic War against Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...
. The goddess had been brought in response to dire prodigies, a failed harvest and the advice of various oracles. Roman histories and stories describe Claudia Quinta as ''castissima femina'' (purest or most virtuous woman) in Rome, chosen along with Scipio Nasica, Rome's ''optimus vir'' ("best man") to welcome the goddess.
Biography
Gossips had accused Claudia of inchastity; but when the ship that carried the goddess's image up theRiver Tiber
The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Ri ...
stuck fast on a sandbar, Claudia prayed for the goddess's help, then released and towed the ship single-handed. This miraculous feat proved Claudia's reputation and the goddess's willingness to become Rome's protector. Soon after, Rome had a good harvest, then defeated the Carthaginian leader Hannibal. Accounts of Cybele's arrival and her transformation into Rome's Magna Mater were embellished over time with circumstantial details, and formed part of the goddess's founding festival, Megalesia
The Megalesia, Megalensia, or Megalenses Ludi, was a festival celebrated in Ancient Rome from April 4 to April 10, in honour of Cybele, known to Romans as ''Magna Mater'' (Great Mother). The name of the festival derives from Greek ''Megale'' (μϵ ...
.
These stories, and the pageants of Megalesia, were used to promote the goddess herself, traditional Roman values, and the status and reputation of Rome's ruling families. Magna Mater was conscripted to the Roman cause at a particularly unstable time in the city's history; the choice of Claudia Quinta and Scipio Nasica as the best of their kind may reflect their enrollment in a show of unity. Claudia's legend in particular became increasingly fantastical and embroidered, and cast idealised reflections on those who might be considered her descendants. In the Republican era, Cicero offered Claudia's exceptional reputation for pudicitia
Pudicitia ("modesty" or "sexual virtue") was a central concept in ancient Roman sexual ethics. The word is derived from the more general ''pudor'', the sense of shame that regulated an individual's behavior as socially acceptable. ''Pudicitia' ...
(sexual virtue) as the moral opposite to Clodia
Clodius is an alternate form of the Roman '' nomen'' Claudius, a patrician '' gens'' that was traditionally regarded as Sabine in origin. The alternation of ''o'' and ''au'' is characteristic of the Sabine dialect. The feminine form is Clodia.
R ...
's, to undermine the latter's moral fitness to offer testimony against his client; and to accentuate the infamy of Clodia's brother Clodius
Clodius is an alternate form of the Roman '' nomen'' Claudius, a patrician ''gens'' that was traditionally regarded as Sabine in origin. The alternation of ''o'' and ''au'' is characteristic of the Sabine dialect. The feminine form is Clodia.
R ...
, accused of deliberate sacrilege at Magna Mater's festival. The emperor Claudius claimed Claudia as an ancestor and may have promoted her cult, alongside that of Magna Mater and her divine consort, Attis
Attis (; grc-gre, Ἄττις, also , , ) was the consort of Cybele, in Phrygian and Greek mythology.
His priests were eunuchs, the ''Galli'', as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis castrating himself. Attis was also a Phrygian v ...
.
Most ancient sources describe Claudia Quinta as an aristocratic matron (a married woman and head of a household), who actively supports and defends her country's welfare, her personal reputation and that of her family. Cicero and later sources appear to have confused or conflated her with known Vestals
In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( la, Vestālēs, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame.
The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty ...
of the Claudian family. Some images from the early Imperial era and onward show her in Vestal costume, highlighting her status as an Imperial paragon of morality and religious purity. She had at least one statue, in the vestibule of Magna Mater's Palatine temple; it was thought to have miraculously escaped two fires that had ruined the temple itself. Plaques and reliefs show her pulling the goddess's ship (which is identified as ''navis salvia'', or "saviour ship" on a single inscription).Leach, paras 1, 2, 14-16.
See also
*Women in ancient Rome
Freeborn women in ancient Rome were citizens (''cives''), but could not vote or hold political office. Because of their limited public role, women are named less frequently than men by Roman historians. But while Roman women held no direct poli ...
* List of Roman women
The list below includes Roman women who were notable for their family connections, or their sons or husbands, or their own actions. In the earlier periods, women came to the attention of (later) historians either as poisoners of their husbands ( ...
Citations
Bibliography
* * * * {{Authority control 3rd-century BC Roman women Quinta