Berkeley Undergraduate Journal of Classics

This paper aims to provide an in-depth study of the late first century BC epigraphic source, the Laudatio Turiae, otherwise known as the Eulogy of Turia. This oddly under-studied document and artefact, this paper argues, can give us great insight into the social and political environment of the turbulent triumviral period, and also into that of the newly-formed Principate. The Laudatio Turiae is also valuable to modern scholarship as an example of the genre of laudatio funebris, providing us with one of only three surviving examples of this genre dedicated to women. As such, it can also be argued to be a significant source for our understanding of Roman women, both in terms of their role within the specific and pivotal period in which this source was created, and also in terms of more universal and enduring attitudes towards women and their place in society throughout the Roman world. This article looks to address the historical value of the Laudatio Turiae, and also to consider the ways in which its genre alters or limits this value.