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STEPHEN BRUNET
rior goddess."
Weinreich's suggestion does raise the thought that these women
were made to resemble Venus in another way. that is in being completely
bare-breasted when they fought or at least during the procession
that marked the beginning of the spectacle. The image of a halfclothed
Venus in a military context would have been familiar to the
Roman audience from Titus' own coins. which were struck late in
Vespasian's reign and again not long before Titus dedicated the Colosseum."
The reverse of these issues shows Venus from the back with
drapery only covering her thighs and holding a helmet in her right
hand and a spear in her left. Moreover. even if the audience failed to
make the connection between these bare-breasted gladiators and Venus.
this costume would have served another important purpose. The audience
would have been left with no doubts about the gender of these venatores.
13 Yet leaving aside speculations about how these women were
dressed. the important thing here is that no element in either epigram
can be connected to any use of dwarfs. These poems were concerned
exclusively with the appearance of women in the arena.
The same holds true for Suetonius' comment that Domitian held
hunts and gladiatorial contests. some of whic took place at night and
some of which included not just men but also women: [edidit] nam venationes
gladiatoresque et noctibus ad lychnuchos. nec virorum modo
pugnas. sed et feminarum (4.1). Again. nothing in this passage can be
taken to refer to dwarfs. Moreover. Suetonius was particularly interested
in innovations that showed the emperor supporting (or undermining)
the social order and. as in this passage. revealed the lengths to
which the emperor would go to stage special shows to conciliate the
people. '4 Thus Suetonius was not likely to have overlooked contests.
such as the pairing of women and dwarfs. that were far more novel and
much more likely to amaze a Roman audience than games held at night
or those in which only female gladiators appeared.
" For the distinction between the depictions of Aphrodite/Venus with
weapons (often those of Ares after she had conquered him in love) and images
of her as a war-like goddess. see J. Flemberg. "The transformations of the
armed Aphrodite," in B. Berggreen and N. Marinatos. eds.. Greece & Gender
(Bergen 1995) 109-122. On images of armed Aphrodite. see LIMCII.I. esp. 36.
12 RIC205 (Titus under Vespasian). 9 (Titus).
13 The use of costuming to reveal the gender and the bravery of female
gladiators and venatores is discussed below in the last section.
14 On Suetonius' interest in the social and political effect of an emperor's actions
regarding the games. see K. Bradley, "The significance of the spectacula in
Suetonius' Caesares." RSA I I (1981) 129-137: A. Wallace-Hadrill. Suetonius: The
Scholar and His Caesars (New Haven 1984) 124-128. 162. 164. 180.