Excavations at the Antonine-era theater at Suessa Aurunca have yielded an unorthodox statue of the building's patron, Matidia Minor, the sister of Hadrian's wife, Sabina. This statue now permits the identification of Matidia's portrait in six additional rep licas. It also casts new light on the ways that a prominent woman's likeness could be depicted in public settings and the stylistic options available for such images. The statue of Matidia Minor, rather than following one of the familiar formats for portrait statues of elite women, uses a composite technique of white and dark marble and a flamboyantly dramatic pose. Cascella's important excavations have provided an unusu ally rich and informative context for the physical setting of the statue, which in turn provides a wealth of information about the relationship of this city to its benefactor. This article builds on this information to interpret the work in its broader contexts. Analysis of this statue in relation both to the portraiture and to the ideal statuary of the same era may allow for a broader understanding of the roles of elite women in Roman society in the Antonine era and of the iconography that expressed those roles.* E xcavations at th e L atin city o f Suessa A u ru n c a (m o d e rn Sessa A u ru n ca) have revealed a n d are c o n tin u in g to reveal a w ealth o f high-quality sculp tu re .1 T h e p o rtra it statues th a t a d o rn e d this city n o t only ad d significant w orks a n d iden tificatio n s to th e c a n o n b u t also ch allen g e m any o f o u r as sum p tio n s a b o u t how im p erial w om en p re se n te d them selves to th e public. In particu lar, a m ag n ificen t a n d very u n o rth o d o x statu e fro m th e ru in s o f th e A n to n in e-era th e a te r (figs. 1, 2) casts new lig h t on fem ale p o rtra itu re o f th e seco n d cen tu ry C.E. a n d on th e rela tio n sh ip o f clientela betw een th e p a tro n a n d local citizens.T h e co n tex t o f th e discovery allows a virtually certain identification (insofar as certainty is possible w ith o u t th e evidence o f coin profiles) o f th e p o rtra it w ith th e w om an w ho reb u ilt th e th e a te r in th e seco n d cen tu ry C.E., M atidia M inor ( fig. 3) .2 T h a t statue in tu rn has p erm itted th e reco g n itio n o f th e sam e
