Origins and Identities of the Wives of Roman Auxiliary Soldiers

Elizabeth M. Greene

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Chapter 17 Origins and Identities of the Wives of Roman Auxiliary Soldiers

In: Brill's Companion to Ancient Women and War in the Mediterranean World

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Elizabeth M. Greene

Elizabeth M. Greene
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 326–348

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004749368_018

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Abstract

Illuminating the presence and role of women in the military communities located across the Roman Empire has become the focus of numerous studies over the past few decades, resulting in a far richer understanding of these communities and their population than ever before. This contribution concentrates specifically on the families of the auxiliary soldiers and the origins of their wives named in military diplomas. The paper challenges the common notion that soldiers married “local” women from around the fort, by interrogating the meaning of “local” in the statements found in modern scholarship. A close inspection of the corpus of military diplomas provides a good deal of information about soldiers’ wives and their children, when they chose to include these elements in the document. Rather than showing a pattern of soldiers marrying women that were indigenous to the “local” area near a fort, the diplomas reveal a greater number of cases in which a soldier and his wife had the same tribal affiliation or ethnic background. This detail suggests that soldiers often sought to maintain some of their original cultural background, separate from their role as Roman soldier, and that this could be achieved with the maintenance of tribal affiliation through family formation.

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Brill's Companion to Ancient Women and War in the Mediterranean World

Series: Brill's Companions to Classical Studies, Volume: 11 and Brill's Companions to Classical Studies: Warfare in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Volume: 11

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004749368

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 26 Nov 2025

Subjects
- Classical Studies
  - Ancient History
  - Archaeology, Art & Architecture
- History
  - History of Warfare

Front Matter

Part 1 Introduction

Part 2 Goddesses, Myth, Amazons, and War

Part 3 Royal Women and War

Part 4 Women and Armies in War

Part 5 Representations of Women in Texts about War

Part 6 Afterword

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Chapter 17 Origins and Identities of the Wives of Roman Auxiliary Soldiers

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Brill's Companion to Ancient Women and War in the Mediterranean World

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