Finally, after much travel, you arrive at your destination: a hospitable Italian estate, crowned by a colonnaded villa on a gentle green rise. Here the Muses smile and leave you at the great portae, and you look at the doors with some hesitation. Then before you can knock, they open for you, and you find yourself standing in a mosaic-tiled entryway. You look to see the servant who opened the doors for you, but you see no doorman. Instead, standing by a pillar, there is only a gracious femina, Chiuthyphro the mistress of the villa, who has come herself to greet you.
"Ave!" She smiles and greets you--and all other guests--warmly as she ushers you inside. "Salvete, amici et amicae!" your hostess says, and she offers you a goblet of finest Falernian wine and a silver platter of figs, olives, and sweet crustula. "Please, come in and explore the villa for your pleasure."
If, however, you wish to be better acquainted with the lady of the villa--or if you wonder why a femina Romana doesn't have a strictly Roman name--you may click on her image to learn more about her. (And about her second, more Roman, name.)
But you, still hesitating, look up to see the chatelaine of the villa waiting expectantly. As she twists the spindle with a light finger, she asks, "Where do you wish to go? My house is yours, my guest and friend. I regret, however, that many parts of the villa are still being built. But some of the halls and rooms are finished…and remember, if you become lost, you have only to return here to the villa doors to regain your bearings." And so you choose your wanderings in the great house…
Out of the Classroom: Greece, Rome, and Popular Culture
Feminae Antiquae: links for the study of women in the ancient world
Chiuthyphro's Index: an annotated list of her favorite online resources
Catullan Resource Page: dedicated to a favored poet, Gaius Valerius Catullus
Upcoming: a banqueting page. My servi et servae are hard at work preparing it…
Send Chatelaine Chiuthyphro a scroll:
Please remember to
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The villa depicted here is the Villa Rotonda, built in the late 16th century in Renaissance Italy.
The image of your hostess is in fact "La Fieleuse," rendered by Waterhouse in 1874 . The actual Chiuthyphro only wishes she looked so good.