I love an Ancient Roman woman called Julia Balbilla. She was bold about showing the world her writing.
We have few actual pieces written by Ancient Roman women. It’s not that women weren’t literate. Upper class women were taught to read and write. We don’t know how literate women from the lower class were, but it’s likely they could read some words.
However, writing created by women wasn’t saved over the centuries. I think it wasn’t valued and therefore wasn’t considered worth saving. That’s my theory.
But back Julia Balbilla. She was traveling in 130 CE with the emperor Hadrian and his wife Sabin. They were in Egypt sightseeing and visited the colossal statue of Memnon near Thebes.
Julia was a privileged member of the Roman autocracy and clearly on good terms with the emperor and his family. She was also a poet.
How do we know she was a poet? Because like tourists before her and so many after her, she made her mark. She incised her poems on the feet and legs of the statue.
In total, she wrote four poems on the colossal statue of Memnon.
This is the only poetry we have by Julia Balbilla. But luckily, she put her writing in a place that lasted.
Like other graffiti artists throughout time, she boldly made her mark.