Pudicitia

The word pudicitia emerges from the Latin verb pudere ('to be ashamed') and the noun pudor ('shame' or 'modesty'), which ultimately derive from the verb pudet ('it shames'). Pudor was largely employed by authors to refer to those who lived with restraint. ==As virtue==

Pudicitia was a complex virtue explored by many ancient writers, including Livy, Valerius Maximus, Cicero, Tacitus and Tertullian. The philosopher Seneca wrote that the loveliest beauty and maximum decus ('greatest glory') a woman could have was her pudicitia, and the author Valerius Maximus wrote that it was the principal virtue underpinning the lives of men, women, and Rome itself. Pudicitia was used in different ways, sometimes referring to a moral quality, and sometimes referring to the physical state of sexual purity. Married plebian and patrician women were expected to wholly embody and radiate the virtue both in private and public. Women could compete in pudicitia; Valerius Maximus claimed that a corona pudicitiae ('crown of pudicitia') was awarded to women deemed to be outstanding. (193-211 CE). Held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York|248x248pxLivy described the legendary figure of Lucretia, who stayed loyal to her husband even as she was raped by Tarquin, as the epitome of pudicitia. Ovid held up Quinta Claudia as a beacon of the virtue; she had her reputation unfairly tarnished by gossips, but restored her good standing and made her pudicitia publicly known after bringing Cybele's cult to Rome. Impudicitia While both men and women were beholden to pudicitia, only freemen could violate the pudicitia of others, while freeborn women (ingenua) and boys (ingenui) had pudicitia that could be violated by others. Violated pudicitia— whether by oneself or by others— was impudicitia ('shamelessness' or 'sexual vice'). Women could display impudicitia through both their dress and behavior. Cited examples include dressing immodestly, donning an alluring expression, speaking wittily, and flirting. However, even more minor infractions could stain a woman's pudicitia. Valerius Maximus described a woman who was divorced for leaving the house with her head uncovered, which her husband alleged was to display her beauty to other men; other women were divorced for similar reasons: one for publicly speaking to a woman with a poor reputation, and another for going to the games without her husband's permission. Sturpum A sturpum ('sex crime') was a type of sexual offense in ancient Rome. It generally referred to acts of coerced or illicit sexual activity involving freeborn women, including adultery. Sturpum were considered a form of impudicitia: both the assailant and a male chaperone found guilty of not protecting the victim's pudicitia could be charged under Roman law. It is unclear if a woman's pudicitia and social standing could be fully restored after being victimized, or if her reputation was permanently damaged. Properitus claimed pudicitia as a form of beauty that attracted those who wished to destroy it; resultantly, only women who were victims of sex crimes— such as Lucretia and Verginia— could become exemplum for chaste puella ('girls'). ==As goddess==

of an antoninianus minted in honor of Empress Herennia EtruscillaStarting in the late 1st century CE, images of a personified Pudicitia began to appear on coins minted by the imperial family. A number of emperors— including Septimus Severus, Volusian, Decius, and Hostilian— issued coins with the goddess on the reverse. Hadrian also issued coins depicting the goddess, but was the only emperor to claim pudicitia as a personal virtue. More commonly, women of the imperial family, primarily empresses, minted coins with Pudicitia on the reverse. This practice became incredibly popular, and appeared on coins in honor of Lucilla, Julia Domna, Faustina, and Julia Maesa. By associating themselves with the goddess, they demonstrated the purity of their character to the Roman people. According to Juvenal, at the end of the Iron Age, humanity had grown so cruel and greedy that Pudicitia, along with her sister Astraea, goddess of justice, abandoned the earth and returned to the heavens, leaving humans to deal with their evil unguided. Worship Roman historians Livy and Festus described two separate sacellum ('shrines') dedicated to the goddess in Rome. One was the older Temple of Pudicitia Patricia near the Temple of Hercules in the Forum Boarium, and the second was the Temple of Pudicitia Plebeia along the Vicus Longus. == See also ==