Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 30/1. (2010)
Articles
Women in a Man’s World? Female Related Artefacts from the Camps of Dacia 135 other buildings with different destination from the praetentura and retentura. It is very interesting that the material of the barracks is the most diversified of all: this is the only place in a camp where articles related to spinning are found together with jewellery and dress accessories, proving that the presence of these objects is not just coincidental. After the barracks the second largest concentration of material can be observed in the latus praetorii, inside the building connected to headquarters and the officer’s residence. It is known that the ban of marriage was not valid for the officers; they had the right for legal marriage even during their duty. The concentration of hairpins, beads and brooches in this area can be related hypothetically to the officer’s wives or members of his households who could have lived inside the forts, as the famous Vindolanda tablets reveal. Objects were recovered in a small number from the area of the major communication gates, towers and inner roads as well that could be accidental finds or it could show a possible mobility of women within the forts. Another important fact to notice is that the category of hairpins is the only category that appears in all the spots mentioned. Chronology of finds As it is well know, a Roman soldier was forbidden to marry during his 25 year long duty, a ban that was suspended by Emperor Septimius Severus at the end of 2nd century or at the beginning of 3rd. Many may think that this law is the most convincing argument to forbid women to enter the camps, forgetting in the same time that a woman could enter a fort not only in the status of wife but of that of a prostitute or of a member of the household. As an inscription found in Alburnus Maior reveals, an active soldier, Claudius Iulianus, from legion XIII Gemina buys a female slave, probably for his household.41 This could mean that in Dacia women were present in camps as members of the household and not necessarily only as concubine or wives. The legalization of marriage during military duty brings only a fundamental legal change of status; it does not affect the personal relationship between man and concubine, the common habits and lifestyle. 41IDR 1,38. Fig. 4. Distribution of artefacts inside the forts.
