THE IMPACT OF WOMEN’S TRAVELS ON MILITARY IMAGERY IN THE JULIO-CLAUDIANPERIOD L. Foubert AnecdotesintheliterarysourcesontheadventuresofAgrippinaMaiorin Germania or of Julia Maior in Asia Minor clearly demonstrate that it was considered customary for a wife to travel through the provinces and join her husband during his military or diplomatic campaigns. At the same time, however, a woman was supposed to avoid the military, since this belongedtothepublicsphere,adomainwhichwastraditionallyreserved for men. During the Julio-Claudian period and thereater, the tension between daily practice and ideal female behaviour played an important roleindebatesonsocialnorms.hetopicofwomen’stravelsinparticular exposesaspectsofthedominantideologieswithregardtofemaleconduct and uncovers some of the mechanisms at work in the representation of Roman women. his contribution focuses on the correlation between the physical presence of imperial women in the provinces and their representation in literary and non-literary sources. he emphasis will lie on the western provinces, as we are better documented on women’s travelling activities in these regions. I. Upper-class Women En Route: Practice and Controversy he practice of women’s travelling seems to have evolved from the ex- traordinary circumstances brought forth by a period of civil war in the irst century bc. 1 he earliest examples of travelling women that are extensively described by theancient writers refer to wives following their husbands during lights out of Rome or exile. 2 By the end of the century, 1 he origin of women’s travelling constitutes an important lacunain modern schol- arship as an in-depth study on the subject is missing. Scholarship is still largely conined to A.J. Marshall, ‘Tacitus and the governor’s lady. A note on Annals iii.-’, Greece & Rome  (a), and A.J. Marshall, ‘Roman women and the provinces’, Ancient Society  (b), which, though indispensable, merely scratchesthe surface of the subject. 2 E.g. Appianus, Bellum civile .; Valerius Maximus ..; Plutarch, Pompeius .