Organization and collaboration among women in Livy’s work: prestige and agency in the public sphere 

This paper explores the numerous references made by Titus Livius in his work Ab Urbe Condita to groups of women occupying the public space during times of emergency. Through an analysis of language and context, we delimitate the differences between disruptive crowds of women and other feminine groups to whom Livy attributes organisational capacity, political intelligence, and significant agency in intervening in civic and communal affairs from their domestic and and engendered roles. Finally, the study highlights how elements of matronal prestige, linked to the memory of women’s heroic collective actions, shaped a gender model for the matrons of Livy’s time. 

Keywords: Agmen mulierum, Heroic matrons, Femininity, Symbolism.