Megullia, surnamed Dotata ('richly dowered'), was an ancient Roman noblewoman.
Life
Megullia is one of the one hundred and six subjects of
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was somet ...
’s ''
On Famous Women
''De Mulieribus Claris'' or ''De Claris Mulieribus'' (Latin for "Concerning Famous Women") is a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, composed in Latin prose in 1361–1362. ...
'' (''De mulieribus claris'', 1362).
[ Boccaccio, Giovanni, ''Famous Women'', translated by Virginia Brown (Cambridge and London, ]Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
, 2001) pp. 109-110 () She is famous (as Boccaccio says) "more through the lavishness of her ancestors than through the worthiness of any of her own deeds. For at that time it seemed such a marvellous thing to give 50,000 bronze coins as dowry to one's husband..."
[Boccaccio, Giovanni, ''Concerning Famous Women'', translated by Guido A. Guarino (New Brunswick, ]Rutgers University Press
Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University.
History
Rutgers University Press, a nonprofit academic publishing house operating in New B ...
, 1963) pp. 117 Boccaccio used manuscripts of
Valerius Maximus
Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ''Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX'' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' ...
as his source, but they "disagree widely about the amount of money in Megullia's dowry".
[
]
Dotata
At the beginning of the Roman republic dowries
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
were small.
See also
* Paraphernalia
Paraphernalia most commonly refers to a group of apparatus, equipment, or furnishing used for a particular activity. For example, an avid sports fan may cover their walls with football and/or basketball paraphernalia.
Historical legal term
In l ...
Notes
[Adam, ''op. cit.'', p. 406]
References
*Roman law and dotata: ''Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges from the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian'' By Susan Treggiari, pp 96–104, 209–211, 326–342, 541;
*''Daily Life in Ancient Rome: The People and the City at the Height of the Empire'' By Jerome Carcopino describes the dowry and ''dotata'' on pages 97 – 100
* Valerius Maximus
Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ''Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX'' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' ...
translated by Henry J. Walker '' Memorable Deeds and Sayings: One Thousand Tales from Ancient Rome''
*Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
referred to the wealthy wife's enslavement of the husband as, ''dotata regit virum conjux'' - a dowered wife rules her husband (Od iii, 18).
*''The New Comedy of Greece and Rome'' By Richard L. Hunter, "dotata ('dowered wife') pp 91, 92, 166;
* Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
writes of the importance of the ''dotata'' and Roman customs in ''ad Att. XIV.13'', ''XV.20'', ''Pro Caecina c4 & c25''
* Saint Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...
speaks of the large dowry ''(megullia dotata)'' in his ''Letters'' 9, 13, 54, 79.
External links
Ancient weddings
as related to marriage in Ireland speaks of the ''dotata'' as the dowry and the ancient Roman customs.
The female model and the reality of Roman women under the Republic and the Empire
by Francesca Cenerini of Università di Bologna, reference to time of the Second Punic War pertaining to ''uxor dotata'' (a woman who had a large dowry).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dotata, Megullia
Women from the Roman Republic