Dr. Jessica Venner

heritage in that way.

She's a complicated figure.

And I love that mystery around her.

So she's just really fascinating as a woman.

Oh my God, yes.

It absolutely is.

is and you know she's in a lovely district because like we said she's surrounded by these beautiful vineyards and orchards and things but it is like an entertainment district as well she had some um involvement we think in the chain the pedestrianization of the road outside her house which which divides her from the amphitheater so she clearly had a big voice in the city and

And this isn't completely unusual in Pompeii.

We have got other women like Eumachia, who lived some time before Julia, who is commemorated in the Forum, but as a result of her own self, she's doing it.

She's got a tomb outside the city walls that Julia in the book visits because it's sort of this really difficult environment to navigate anyway as a man.

So can you imagine how difficult it is for a woman

So for them to then be commemorated in the city, that's incredible.

I think Pompeii is starting to reveal those secrets in the sense that the impression we've had, like you're saying, is not actually quite what it was.

On paper, sure.

On paper, she would have to have a guardian if she was widowed or never married or hasn't got a father in the mix.

So she would have had to have a guardian for that on paper, but she very likely didn't do that often.

It's one of those things where it's like, okay, officially fine, I've done that.

Because, you know, that loan I mentioned between two women, they're conducting that themselves.

And yes, they probably officially had a guardian to sign it off.

But let's be honest, they probably didn't.