Sante bambine, promesse spose, fanciulle di buona famiglia: spunti significativi dalle catacombe romane

The paper proposes some reflections on the identity and representation of girls, adolescents and young women as they emerge from the analysis of some significant testimonies from the Roman catacombs. The study begins with a careful examination of the women’s santoral, within which the young Agnes stands out for the antiquity and authenticity of the cult, whose figure is observed on the basis of the literary, archaeological and iconographic dossier, enriched with the presentation of the most recent acquisitions. The iconographic representations of the girls belonging to the Roman aristocracy buried in the Pretestato cemetery are then taken into consideration: the images betray the influence of the forms and self-representative formulas of the social class to which they belong, highlighting, however, the lack of a specific female. Finally, the investigation takes into consideration the epigraphic specificity, focusing on texts that commemorate young brides or fiancées. The analysis of the inscriptions has shed light on the role of young girls within the family and, more generally, within late antique society, highlighting how their memory and image are established and handed down by ‘others’, almost always parents or relatives.