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Dying For Rome – Virginia

October 2, 2011 By Elisabeth Storrs 4 Comments

Does this picture look familiar? No, it’s not Lucretia (Dying for Rome) but this woman’s story is depressingly similar to that of the tragic Roman matron who was raped by an Etruscan prince.

She is Virginia, whose death, just like Lucretia’s, was the catalyst for significant change in Rome. The image is deceptive, though, because the man stabbing her is not her rapist but her father.

Once again, Virginia’s existence is debatable but her story is an example of how Roman women were supposed to be paragons of modesty, chastity and fidelity. Accordingly any actual or perceived breach of these virtues entitled their husbands or fathers to kill them because of the resulting stain on them and their family’s reputation.

Virginia’s story is even more tragic than Lucretia’s because she did not get a chance to choose her fate. She was truly a pawn whose death once again stirred the men of Rome to rise up and depose an oppressive government.

She was the daughter of a centurion, Virginius.  The plebeian maiden caught the eye of the patrician judge, Appius Claudius. The judge was one of the ten corrupt Decemvirs (literally ‘ten men’) who had been elected to rule Rome after the Etruscan kings had been booted out after Lucretia killed herself. Whilst Virginius was away, Appius Claudius organized for a friend to bring a court case claiming that Virginia was his slave on the basis that he would then hand the girl over for Claudius to use.  Even though Virginius returned in time to discover the scheme, Claudius, in his role as judge, held that Virginia should be removed from her father’s house anyway.  Not wishing his daughter to be subjected to the shame of being a rich man’s whore, the centurion took a butcher’s knife and slew her.  The outcry that followed led to the reign of the Decemvirs ending. Virginius himself was not condemned as a murderer, though, because he had power of life and death over his daughter.

Women were second class citizens in Rome (Damn Whores and God’s Police) and their rights limited. The paternalism of these stories jars because we see these women only as victims of the ‘system’ rather than active champions of rebellion.

In my novel, The Wedding Shroud, my protagonist, Caecilia, is married to an Etruscan man, Vel Mastarna, to seal a truce between two warring cities. Caecilia, intolerant and self righteous, leaves Rome indoctrinated into believing that she must remain ‘virtuous’. When she comes to Veii she grapples with conflicting moralities as she discovers that the Etruscans offer independence, education and sexual freedom to women. Over time she meets three women from different cultures: a Greek maid, a Cretan courtesan and an Etruscan matron. Through their stories she discovers that there is more to life than the restricted ideals of Rome. Caecilia’s dead father was a plebeian, and so she also wonders if he would have killed her for living among the ‘sinful’ Etruscans just as Virginius did his daughter. And by the end of the novel, she finds herself in a position where she might change Rome’s history just as Lucretia and Virginia before her.

The image is of a painting entitled The Death of Virginia, by the painter Girolamo Romani (Romanino) (c. 1485 – c. 1566) who was an Italian High Renaissance painter. During his long career he decorated the walls of Castello del Buonconsiglio, a castle in Trento, northern Italy. This painting is one of the frescoes that grace that castle’s walls

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Elisabeth Storrs

Written by: Elisabeth Storrs

Elisabeth Storrs is the author of the 'A Tale of Ancient Rome' series. Learn more at www.elisabethstorrs.com. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter for inspiration, giveaways, and insights into history - both trivia and the serious stuff! https://www.elisabethstorrs.com/subscribe/

Filed Under: Blog, Triclinium Tagged With: Ancient Rome, Etruscans, History

Comments

  1. Stephanie Dray says

    October 3, 2011 at 16:02

    Those wicked Claudians are always at the center of every depravity! :P

    Reply
  2. J. R. Tomlin says

    October 3, 2011 at 18:03

    Interesting story. The history of “honour killings” goes back a very long way.

    Reply
  3. Rebecca Lochlann says

    February 16, 2012 at 17:36

    I’m hooked!

    Reply
  4. Elisabeth Storrs says

    February 16, 2012 at 22:20

    Thanks Rebecca – I’m glad you enjoyed the post :)

    Reply

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Tales of Ancient Rome

The Wedding Shroud

What fate awaits a Roman treaty bride married to an Etruscan nobleman from a decadent world?

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As war wreaks havoc, three bold women must fight for their futures with wit and wiles.

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Call to Juno

During a siege between age old enemies, can love and loyalty withstand the betrayal of mortals and gods?

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Dying for Rome

Your gift when you join my monthly Inspiration and Giveaway Newsletter – a short story about the tragic girl whose death inspired the men of Rome to rebellion.

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