Roman masculinity and latin poetic funerary epigraphy in the North-Western provinces (1st century B.C. - 3rd century A.D.)

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the construction and representation of Roman masculinity through Latin poetic funerary inscriptions from the north-western provinces of the Roman Empire between the first century B.C. and the third century A.D. While studies of Roman masculinity have traditionally relied on elite literary sources, this research employs funerary verse epigraphy as an alternative lens to explore how gendered ideals were expressed by a broader social spectrum, including freedmen, soldiers, artisans, and provincial citizens. By analysing the epigraphic language of emotion and virtue, two fundamental dimensions of Roman masculine identity, this study examines how men and women in the provinces articulated moral and emotional values within commemorative contexts.

This research demonstrates that ancient Roman emotions, as represented in funerary verse, were not as rigidly gendered as literary sources suggest. Rather, emotional expression appears to have transcended gender boundaries, indicating that Roman men were equally capable of displaying feelings such as grief, love, and joy. For the concept of virtue, both men and women were depicted in funerary epigraphy as embodying Roman moral values, expressed either explicitly or through symbolic allusion. Most references were brief and formulaic, though verse inscriptions occasionally offered fuller reflections on moral character. The most frequently invoked virtues (pietas, fides, and innocentia) were not selected along gendered lines but rather according to relational or social relevance.

By integrating gender theory, epigraphic studies, and emotion- and virtue research, this dissertation contributes to the broader understanding of Roman identity formation, showing that masculinity in antiquity was not a monolithic ideal but a negotiated, performative construct: one materially and poetically inscribed across the empire’s funerary landscapes.