Travelling the Mediterranean: Late Antique and Victorian Women on the Move

What connects the early 4th and 19th century Mediterranean? Women. Female mobility had increased significantly following centuries of restricted travel, yet our views of the Mediterranean in these periods are still shaped by the writing of men. 

Throughout time, histories have been primarily written through the male perspective. Their focus, often on the elite, the monumental, the exceptional, has blurred opportunities to see the mundane, the everyday.  

The 4th century was a significant period of mobility, in part due to environmental pressures, and as we are beginning to discover, it was particularly pertinent for women whose travel had been so restricted up to that point. Preliminary work on the archaeological record has shown that women play fundamental roles in many aspects of resilience and organisation not often seen in the historical sources.  

Through archaeology and women’s diaries, Director of the British School at Athens Professor Rebecca Sweetman seeks to redress the bias with a view of the everyday and highlight the role of women in visioning the Mediterranean in two key periods of mobility.