Ancient Fibulae

Fibulae replaced straight pins that were used to fasten clothing in the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age. The first fibulae design, known as the violin bow fibulae appeared in the late Bronze Age. This simple design, with a unilateral spring, looks remarkably like a modern safety pin. The violin bow fibula has a low flat arch with the body running parallel to the pin so it resembles a violin bow. The bow could be round, square, or flat and ribbon-like in cross-section. Some had simple punched or incised decoration on the bow. Violin bow fibula were  introduced in the 14th century BCE by the Myceneans on the Greek Peloponnesus. The fibula soon spread to Crete, Cyprus and Mycenean trading posts in Sicily. 

While the head of the earlier straight pin was often decorated, the bow or plate of the fibula provided a much increased scope for decoration. During the Iron Age, the use of fibulae became more widespread and were usually highly decorated among the elite, with incised or moulded geometric designs.

The classic fibula of the late-Roman era, and in fact the best known of all fibula types, is the crossbow type. The crossbow fibula consists of a highly arched semi-circular bow, usually of squarish cross-section, and a long flat foot. The fibula has a wide transverse bar (or arms) at the head containing the pin-hinge.

Among some cultures, different fibula designs had specific symbolic meanings. They could refer to a status or profession such as single woman, married woman, man, warrior, or chief. Some Roman-era fibulae symbolized specific ranks or positions in the Roman legions or auxiliary. In some cultures, fibulae were worn in pairs and could be linked by a length of chain. 

A penile fibula, developed by the Romans from the Greek use of the kynodesmē, was a ring, attached with a pin through the foreskin to fasten it above the glans penis. Scholars think it was used to promote modesty when appearing nude in public such as participation in athletic competitions, or in the belief that it helped preserve an orator's voice.  It was also used by masters on their slaves to prevent intercourse. Penile fibulae were frequent subjects of ridicule among satirists in Rome. Somehow, I doubt if Marc Antony bothered with modesty when participating in the Lupercalia, though!

Gilded bronze crossbow fibula, 300-365 CE, at the Gallo-Roman Museum, Tongeren courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

A east Germanic bow brooch crafted of silver with gold-sheet overlay and inlaid garnets, 400-450 CE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The De Braganza Fibula, 250-200 BCE, Greek, from the Iberian Peninsula, now in the British Museum.

Germanic fibula with Gold plating on silver with inlaid garnet, glass, enamel, 430 CE, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor James Steakley

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Pudicitia: Modesty a central concept in ancient Roman ethics

Marble Portrait of a Modest Severan Period Woman, 193-211 CE, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

Pudicitia, modesty or sexual virtue, was a central concept in ancient Roman sexual ethics. The word is derived from the more general pudor, the sense of shame that regulated an individual's behavior as socially acceptable. Pudicitia was most often a defining characteristic of women, but men who failed to conform to masculine sexual norms were said to exhibit feminizing impudicitia, sexual shamelessness.

The virtue was personified by the Roman goddess Pudicitia, whose Greek equivalent was Aidos. Romans, both men and women, were expected to uphold the virtue of pudicitia, a complex ideal that was explored by many ancient writers, including Livy, Valerius Maximus, Cicero, Tacitus and Tertullian. Livy describes the legendary figure of Lucretia as the epitome of pudicitia. She is loyal to her husband and is modest, despite her incredible beauty. The way a man or woman presented him or herself in public, and the persons they interacted with caused others to pass judgment on their pudicitia. For example, if a woman was seen associating with men other than her husband people would make a negative judgment on her pudicitia.

Romans idealized the woman who was univira, a "one-man" woman, married once, even though by the time of Cicero and Julius Caesar, divorce was common. Romans associated the loss of pudicitia with chaos and loss of control. In Cicero's oration against Verres, he discusses many of the governor's transgressions including sexual misconduct with both men and women. In the Imperial age, Augustus enacted a program of moral legislation to encourage pudicitia.

The goddess Pudicitia was worshiped in two temples in Rome, the Temple of Pudicitia Patricia and the Temple of Pudicitia Plebeia, built on the Quirinal Hill in 296 BCE. The original one was for women of the patrician class only, but when Verginia, a patrician lady, was excluded because she married a plebeian consul, she and a group of plebeian matrons founded an altar of Pudicitia for women of the plebeian class as well. Livy claims the cult declined and was forgotten due to the women's extreme openness and opposition to the concept of chastity, though Festus in the 2nd century CE stated that its cult was still active at that time.

The young woman portrayed in this sculpture, her head modestly swathed in her palla, has been dated by her hair arrangement made popular by Julia Domna, wife of the emperor Septimius Severus (r. A.D. 193–211) and mother of the emperor Caracalla (r. A.D. 211–217). Parted at the center, long locks framed the face, covering the ears and falling almost to the shoulders before looping back to form an enormous bun at the back of the head. Image courtesy of the museum.

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