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FEMALE AND DWARFGLADIATORS 161
gests that the story was apocryphal. If some law did allow such a will to
be abrogated, Schafer plausibly supposes that it would have been a
sumptuary law involving funeral displays and would not have had anything
specifically to do with gladiators. 47 The most the story can tell us
for certain is that Athenaeus did not find it inconceivable that women
might fight as gladiators.
2. The Senatus Consultum of AD. 19 from Larinum forbidding the appearance
on stage of members of the senatorial and equestrian orders
and their participation in certain activities concerning gladiatorial combat,4
8 Because of gaps in the text and the uncertainty about the sense of
certain technical terms, it is not clear whether these activities included
fighting as a gladiator or venator. becoming an employee in a gladiatorial
ludus, or both. 49 Whatever these activities were, the SC contemplated
that women of the upper classes might potentially engage in
them. The SC does not, on the other hand, prove that the appearance of
elite women in the arena or in the gladiatorial schools was a common
problem or even that such a violation of the customs of Roman society
had ever occurred. In an attempt at legal inclusiveness the SC simply
listed the many possible relationships to a senator or knight-grandson,
granddaughter. son, daughter. etc.-that could be subject to the provisions;
it did not single out women for any special notice. It should also
be noted that no objection was raised to women per se becoming gladiators
or their assistants, only to the possibility that elite women might
47 Schafer (above. n. 6) 264.
4 8 AE 1978 145. This document, which was inscribed on a bronze tablet found
at Larinum, has occasioned considerable comment. In particular, see B. Levick,
"The Senatus Consultum from Larinum," JRS 73 (1983) 97-II5: W. Lebek.
"Standeswiirde und Berufsverbot unter Tiberius: Das SC der Tabula Larinas."
ZPE 81 (1990) 37-96. and "Das SC der Tabula Larinas: Rittermusterung und andere
Probleme," ZPE 85 (1991) 41-70 (corrections in ZPE 87 [1991) 156): T.
McGinn, "The SC from Larinum and the repression of adultery at Rome," ZPE
93 (1992) 273-295; M. Buonocore, Epigrafia anfiteatrale dell'occidente romano
Ill. Regiones Italiae II-V, Sicilia. Sardinia et Corsica (Rome 1992) 18-26 no. 2. I
have not seen N. Stelluti. Epigrafi eli Larino e della bassa Frentania II. Appendix.
Stueli suI senatus consultum eli Larino (Campobasso 1997). which is supposed to
contain a review of all proposed readings.
49 The unusual expressions in 9-10 (auctoramentove ro[garet ut ?in harena
depugna]ret aut ut pinnas gladiatorum raperet aut rudem tolleret aliove quod
dus rei simile min[istraretD can. but need not. be interpreted as referring to
employment as an assistant in a gladiatorial establishment or in the games
themselves. See Levick (above. n. 47) 102, whose text is given here. On the other
hand. the language of 5 (in scaenam ludumv[e proelirentD and 18-19 (auctorare
se opera[sve suas ?ad harenam scaenamve .. .]s locare) more likely refers to
someone actually becoming a gladiator.