Women's Collective Action in Tacitus' Annals

Abstract

This article analyzes female collective action as embodied public performance in two episodes within Tacitus' Annals: the trial of Libo Drusus in 16 ce, and the trial of Aemilia Lepida four years later. Both defendants are accompanied by entourages of leading women, and their narratives provide vehicles for Tacitus' observations on the demise of the Roman elite and traditional republican institutions and customs. Reading the actions of the women as embodied performances opens new avenues for the interpretation of Tacitus' representations of women who claim space for themselves in public and voice their support of others during the reign of Tiberius.