“The Stola and the Silence”?: Woman’s “Words” in a Catanian Epitaph of Imperial Age

Abstract

The analysis of an epigraph in Greek language –currently stored in the Warehouse of the Catania Civic Museum “Castello Ursino” (inv. no. 233) and related to a Giulia Galene, the φιλόστολος– encourages to reflect on the meaning to be attributed to this appellative, “friend of the fleet” or rather “lover of the stola”. The possible reference to the use of the distinctive wear of the Roman matrona allows to inserted the epitaph in a time just before the use of the honorary titles femina stolata or ματρῶνα στολᾶτα, attested in many regions of the Roman Empire from the end of II century a.d. The apax φιλόστολος, if it does not completely overturn the cliché of the silent and relegated woman, traditionally attributed to the matrona, nevertheless puts in evidence the “visibility” and the public role of a woman who left her memory on the stone without needing a “male” legitimization. In any case, Giulia Galene succeeded in “expressing herself” and reaching us with her own “voice”, she did not remain silent, even “loving” her stola.