Women on ancient Roman farms were in charge of making wine, oil – and profits. Historians dismissed them as ‘housekeepers’

Getty Images/Paolo Trovo Female farm managers are hidden in plain sight in ancient Roman texts, mentioned in laws, literature and grave inscriptions across five centuries. Modern historians have generally assumed they were housekeepers, in charge of domestic tasks and household meals, and segregated from the productive business of the farm. My new paper, published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology, challenges this assumption. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that many Roman female farm…