Searching for Professional Women in the Mid to Late Roman Textile Industry

Abstract Since the 1960s, feminist historiography has been hard at work challenging established narratives of women’s roles in past societies, although with greater impact some disciplines than others. Studies production ancient world, particular, continue to exclude women from discussions professional labour. When do appear texts, modern scholarship tended treat them either as exceptional cases, or part an unskilled, casual workforce. Utilizing a variety source materials, particularly Egyptian papyri, this article examines labour mid late Roman textile industry, which recent typically relegated category ‘domestic’ production. Drawing upon comparative model for manufacturing Middle Ages highlight important distinctions between and their documentation time periods, it becomes evident that were crucial actors all stages commercial production, they possessed limited levels control within industry. Establishing better-evidenced sector, despite legal social norms historically obscured them, opens possibility finding other industries continues process re-evaluating economic history throughout ages.