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The Brooklyn Museum

Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art
The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor: Clodia




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Judy Chicago (American, b. 1939). The Dinner Party (Heritage Floor; detail), 1974–79. Porcelain with rainbow and gold luster, 48 x 48 x 48 ft. (14.6 x 14.6 x 14.6 m). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, 2002.10. © Judy Chicago. Photograph by Jook Leung Photography

Clodia
b. circa 95 B.C., Rome; date of death unknown

Born into an aristocratic family of Rome, Clodia was married as a young girl to a Roman official, divorced in 66 B.C., and then remarried to a first cousin. The marriage was known to be an unhappy one, and Clodia's infidelity, drinking, and gambling were common knowledge. When her husband died mysteriously, she was suspected of having poisoned him. Apart from a reputation for licentiousness, however, Clodia was an educated woman who studied philosophy and wrote poetry. Among her lovers was the poet Catullus, who wrote of her as Lesbia in the many poems he dedicated to her.

Related Place Setting

Hypatia

Related Heritage Floor Entries

Aemilia
Agatha
Barbara
Blandina
Catherine
Epicharis
Cordelia Gracchi
Hestiaea

Hortensia
Laya
Metrodora
Pamphile
Philotis
Cordelia Scipio
Shalom
Sulpicia

Last updated March 10, 2007.
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