Women at the Table in Hispania: Women's Participation in the Epula through Epigraphic Sources

Abstract Public banquets played a central role in the civic and religious life of Roman Hispania, providing elite women with an important means of public representation and commemoration. Drawing on thirty-six Latin inscriptions dated between the late first century Bce and the third century Ce, this study explores the relationship between female euergetism and the celebration of epula, with particular attention to the evidence from Baetica. The inscriptions connect these banquets with honorary dedications, architectural benefactions, priesthoods, and imperial cult practices, illustrating how acts of munificence were closely linked to religious duties, social prestige, and civic identity. In several instances, the sponsorship of epula was associated with the offices held by priestesses and flaminicae, whose benefactions strengthened both their ritual authority and their standing within the urban community. At the same time, the evidence also identifies women as beneficiaries and participants in communal dining, offering a more nuanced understanding of gender, sociability, and ceremonial life in Hispano-Roman cities.