This one arose during my pondering the so-called ‘female gladiator lamp’ claim (see next post) and I asked on Twitter if anyone knew what this ‘bikini girl’ from Piazza Armerina was holding:

… Max Sinclair and Liz Gloyn offered some suggestions with varying degrees of seriousness, but the most ‘reasonable’ (and one I’ve heard before) — that it’s some sort of umbrella really doesn’t fit in with the ‘program’ of the scene. Here’s the whole thing:

… not sure why the photo is cut up … it’s practically stitchable. The scene is usually said to depict the ‘crowning of the victor’ but our bikini girl is standing between the person bestowing the crown and the one who apparently received it. Outside of the victrix, everyone else  is engaged in some sort of athletic activity and usually these women are taken to be exercising at the baths or something. But we do know of athletic events for women — we mentioned the Heraia a few days ago; sadly the Matthew Dillon article referenced therein doesn’t mention these particular female athletes. Kelly Olson’s article in Classical World from a few years ago (Roman Underwear Revisited, CW 96 (2003), 201-210 speculates that these ladies might be wearing the subligar, and that Martial describes a female athlete as subligata (208-209), so it seems reasonable that there might actually be a competition being depicted here. Indeed, I might be imagining things, but the victrix and the lady I’m wondering about seem to be engaged in a footrace in the register above … our lady seems to be complaining, perhaps, because in the upper register she appears to win, but she doesn’t get the palm frond and laurel. What does she get? Even if I am imagining the ‘narrative’ of this scene, I’d still like to know what the heck she’s holding … anyone know?