Show Notes
The earliest universities only admitted men. Occasionally a woman was allowed to attend, but not to graduate. The first woman to buck that trend was Elena Cornaro Piscopia. But that didn't mean it was any easier for those who came after her. The battle for women's education had only just begun.
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More from Her Half of History
In 42 BCE, the Roman government was in the midst of Civil War and one faction tried to fund it by taxing its women. Roman women banded together and said, nope, we don't want to pay taxes to fund a civil war. Hortensia's speech to the Roman senate applied a logic that was used millennia later by other groups of rebels: No taxation without representation. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Sign up for the newsletter On This Day in Women's History, available on Patreon or Substack. There are free options in both places. This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present. Join Into History for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows. Follow me on Threads as Her Half of History. Sadly I am unaware of any actual picture of Hortensia, so the feature image is not actually of her. It’s actually an unknown woman, portrayed in a fresco in Pompeii, so just a little before Hortensia’s time. It’s commonly called the Sappho fresco, though there is absolutely no reason to think this Roman woman was supposed to be the Greek poet. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Vestal Virgins were right at the heart of Rome's self-image. The mother of Romulus and Remus was a Vestal, and throughout Romes thousand-year history, the Vestals were charged with guarding the sacred flame of Vesta, which kept Rome safe and strong. This episode goes through the origins, the selection process, the duties, the pitfalls, the privileges, and the end of the Vestals.
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