Tertia Emilia Priami Scipionis Africani coniuge · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Tertia Emilia Priami Scipionis Africani coniuge
Subject: Important Women; Famous Women; Adultery; Infidelity; Scipio Africanus; Tertia Aemilia
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Italy; Ancient Rome
Description: This engraving depicts Scipio Africanus, a Roman general, committing adultery with a young servant girl on the left side of the image. The woman in the centre of the engraving is his wife, Tertia Aemilia. She is depicted looking at her husband and his mistress as they commit adultery. Instead of confronting her husband about the affair, she devises a plan to get rid of the mistress. The right side of the engraving depicts Tertia Aemilia marrying the young servant girl off to a freedman. She does this so that no one finds out about the affair so that it does not ruin her reputation. Boccaccio explains that he chose to write on Tertia Aemilia because the way she handled the affair and how she used her cunning was admirable.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:18218
Language: lat
Source Name: Iohannis Bocacij in librum de claris mulieribus
Parent Collection: 1487 Leuven; 1487 Leuven
Image: mta_18218_OBJ.png
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Important Women; Famous Women; Adultery; Infidelity; Scipio Africanus; Tertia Aemilia