The women of the domus Augusta in processions and ceremonies (1st-3rd century CE)

The aim of this study is to investigate whether and how the women of the imperial family, not only the wives of the emperors, but also the mothers, the daughters, and the sisters, had been involved in the funeral processions, from the 1st to the beginning of the 3rd century AD. Also engagements and weddings with their processions are considered, since the importance of marriage strategies inside the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the Ulpian and Antonine families have been highlighted in recent studies. This article attempts to analyze what was the role they played in these processions and what was their visibility, because the sources do not often contain explicit references to the women of the domus Augusta for all the phases of the rituals and do not report all the details. Furthermore part of the study examines what messages were intentionally conveyed to the public through their presence in these rituals, in relation to the political balances inside the aula Caesaris, the succession to the throne, the representation of the imperial power also in times of crisis, and the organization of consent to the ruling dynasty.