Funerary plaque 

Sexual and general division of labour

Gender and life cycle: marriage

Gender and space

This funerary inscription, which Cornelius Lupulus dedicated to his wife, employs the epithet bene merenti, ‘well-deserving’. This accolade leads us to think about all of those aspects for which his wife was worthy of praise. The plaque was found during excavations conducted in the Roman villa at Paterna. Based on the texts of Latin agronomic treatise writers, we shift our attention to the role played by women living in a rural environment and to what was expected of them so that they would be worthy of such an inscription.