Ближний Восток и его соседи

g 101 h The Red Sea and the Luxury of the Roman Women: A Literary Study This was in accord with the spirit of the times. The trade in luxury products fired the imagination of the Augustan poets to the extent that the theme became a cliché in their poems, as we shall see. We have plenty of contemporary evidence, especially from the love poets, who had much to say of women’s luxury in their erotic contexts, as passionate love was a part of the very being of these poets. Love demanded that female lives should be luxurious. 10 In a significant way, Ovid calls the god of love in his Remedia Amoris: “wealthy love” dives Amor ( Rem . 346). Roman women of the Empire aimed at looking smart, they favoured nature embellished and elaborated. It is more to the point to observe what Ovid says: Tot tibi tamque dabit formosas Roma puellas, “haec habet” ut dicas “quicquid in orbe fuit.” (Ov. Ars 1.55–6) “Rome will give you so many girls and so beautiful that you would say “this (city) has all what is in the world”. In the words of Maria Wyke “woman is constructed and constructs herself as a physical appearance, an object to be gazed upon by men”. 11 Perfumes, cosmetics, jewellery, and silk dresses represented extravagant luxury, which the Roman women used in making themselves attractive for men. The most highly prized luxury products were those of India, China, Arabia and Africa. Imports of perfumes, pearls, silk, and other luxuries moved from these places via the Red Sea, 12 or overland routes 13 alongside the Red Sea in their final passage to Rome. 10 For the extravagance of Roman women, see the speech of Cato in Livy (XXXIV. iii–iv). Ed- wards (1996 a) 80, points out to the fact that luxury itself was especially associated with women who were thought highly susceptible to its attractions. 11 M. Wyke, “Woman in the Mirror: The Rhetoric of Adornment in the Roman World,” in: L. Archer et al. (eds.), Women in Ancient Societies (Macmillan 1994) 138. 12 Cf. Strabo (XVI. 4.24). The Red Sea was important as a channel for the trade between Rome and the Eastern seas. Luxury products came from Africa, Arabia, India, and China to the ports of Bernice, Leukos Limen, and Myos Hormos on the Red Sea, to be transmitted to Alexandria, then across the Mediterranean to Rome. See: M. Grant, From Alexander to Cleopatra. The Hellenistic World (New York 1982) 40; G. Bowersock, Roman Arabia (Lon- don 1983) 47, 64; P. Jones et al. (eds.), The World of Rome. An Introduction to Roman Culture (Cambridge 1998) 201; A. Dalby, Empire of Pleasures (Routledge 2000) 174f.; R. Hoyland, Arabia and the Arabs (Routledge 2003) 73. H. Mattingly, Roman Imperial Civilization (New York 1971) 94, refers to the fact that Alexandria grew strong and wealthy with the trade of the Red Sea and the East. 13 For the overland routes, see: Bowersock (1983) 12ff., 46f., Dalby (2000)183.