Seams Like a Lady

This is a topic dear to my heart. I was having a casual conversation with some friends a year ago, after getting deep into making Roman jewelry, but not having researched Roman jewelers all that much. I made the offhand comment that there weren’t any Roman female goldsmiths. But as soon as the words left my mouth, the assertion bothered me. I had no way of knowing if I was right. So I did some digging. And lo. I was (so happily) wrong! It’s contested, but there are several women with grave inscriptions indicating “aurifex”, literally, “goldsmith”. The most famous of which is Pompeia Helena.

It’s contested by one author, whom I haven’t read, John K. Evans, who suggested that aurifex may, in this context, mean “keeper of gold items”. However, Clemente Marconi, in The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Art and Architecture, takes it for granted that women goldsmiths existed (p 125). Personally, I side with Marconi. Aurifex (on the grave, per Wikipedia, it literally says “aur (i) ficis” which is the “nominative, accusative, or vocative plural form of the third-declension masculine noun aurifex” (Google)) is used in the masculine form, rather than the feminine. There is surely another Latin word out there that better translates into “bearer of gold” or “keeper of gold”, and would show up in the feminine form. I think that women were doing the goldwork.

Additionally, Jack Ogden, in Jewelry Technology in the Ancient and Medieval World, discusses gender. “Sweetest daughter Vincentia” was a Roman “gold weaver” who died at just 9 years and 9 months old. (p 345) We don’t know exactly what a “gold weaver” was. She most likely literally woven gold into cloth, probably silk. At nine years old, she was working with two of the most expensive materials in the economy. We also see, per Ogden, husbands and wives who worked together as gold beaters. (Brattiarius/brattiaria). These were skilled artisans who made gold leaf and gold sheet.

These examples of women with job titles that are related to goldsmithing, but are not “aurifex”, further strengthen my belief that if “bearer of gold” or “keeper of gold” were specific jobs, that’s the title that would have been used, rather than the masculine word for goldsmith. It moreover strengthens my belief that Pompeia Helena was doing what might have even then been seen as a traditionally masculine job, and actually making jewelry.

Of note, one of the other women that Marconi sites is Sellia Epyre, a 1st century aurivestrix. Note the different job, note the feminine nature of the job name. It’s been translated, per Wikipedia, to mean gold embroiderer. I would, with my extremely limited knowledge of Latin, guess embroidery on clothing? It’s a step too far from goldsmithing for me, though not for Marconi.

I wish that I had more than two real sources on this topic (plus Wikipedia). There are several books on my wishlist, but they keep getting bumped for jewelry books. Also, my wishlist book are about Roman women generally, because that’s what’s there. I don’t know what more I’m going to find on this topic, in particular. I’m definitely open to suggestions!