Food and nutrition of women and children in the Roman World (2nd century B.C- 3rd century A.D.)

This thesis provides an alternative interpretation to that of the current historical analysis about food and nutrition of women and children in the Roman world (II B.C.E - III A.D.). Instead of the traditional focus on social and cultural determinants, nutrition is here considered as the result of the interplay among different elements that operated in the everyday lives of women and children: the activities they performed, the needs and challenges of their specific life cycles, and the socially available ideas underlying human interactions with nature for food and health purposes. It is argued that both women and children were active
participants in all the processes related to food and nutrition and that their work was key to the food security of their group.

Based on a theoretical framework inspired by a tridimensional definition of nutrition, this thesis offers an integral view of the biological, social and environmental elements that influenced food and nutrition in ancient times. The analysis of ancient written and bioarchaeological sources contributes to
highlighting the multiple ways in which women and children took part in the processes involved with their own food and nutrition. The proposed theoretical framework is articulated with the analysis of the ancient sources with the aim of providing a new approach to the subject.