| Abstract | Paper -a:
This paper explores how and why some early Christian women could function autonomously in legal matters, while others chose not to. While their earlier Roman counterparts were subject to a formalized system of guardianship, papyrological evidence suggests that many women in the Late Antique period continued relying on male relatives to fill the roles that guardians had previously held, even after formal guardianship disappeared from the law. This paper, therefore, will discuss the form of this ad hoc guardianship, the categories of women who frequently had guardians, and the socio-religious factors that may have affected guardianship in this period.
Paper -b:
It is well known that the Tetrarchic regime of Diocletian excluded women from coinage and denied them the title of Augusta (empress). However, this unusual aspect of the Tetrarchy has led scholars to assume that women played little part in Tetrarchic governance and propaganda. This paper contends that women retained their importance in some key respects. Through the study of inscriptions, archaeology, literature, and (from the last years of the Tetrarchy) coins, this paper considers the titulature of Tetrarchic women, their role in religious politics, and their importance to the power struggles that brought about the collapse of Diocletian's imperial college.
Paper -c:
This paper considers both the presence and absence of imperial women on coinage in Late Antiquity. It spans the 4th to 6th centuries, and considers especially some specific cases: Constantinian women, and the absence of Theodora from the coinage of Justinian I. It analyses explanations given for the inclusion of women on coins (e.g. motherhood, specific political contexts) and questions the validity of these. It explores in greater depth than usually afforded to the subject the reasons for the absence of women from coins. Ultimately it addresses the question of whether the appearance of women on coins tells us anything about the power of empresses in Late Antiquity.
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