Semiamira muliere messana · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Semiamira muliere messana
Subject: Elagabalus; Important Women; Famous Women; Noble Women; Roman Senate; Soaemias
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Ancient Greece; Italy; Ancient Rome
Description: This engraving depicts Soaemias, a Greek woman, sitting in the middle of a meeting. This ia a meeting of the Roman senate with her son, Elagabalus, as Roman emperor. They are depicted sitting in a circle, with everyone looking at Elagabalus, who is illustrated wearing a crown and holding a scepter. Elagabalus would not have become emperor without his mother’s help, so he granted her the ability to have authority and did nothing without her consent. This image is highly significant as she was, as Boccaccio explains, the first woman to have a seat among the Roman senate and discuss her opinions and views on what must be done. The left side of the engraving depicts Soaemias kissing a man to represent her life as a prostitute before becoming mother to the emperor.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:18236
Language: lat
Source Name: Iohannis Bocacij in librum de claris mulieribus
Parent Collection: 1487 Leuven
Image: mta_18236_OBJ.png