https://bethallisonbarr.com/silenced-women-modern-lessons-from-an-ancient-murder/
I often assign Regilla’s story in my upper level Women’s History course. The text makes a significant impression on my students. Questions spill from them during our discussions. How in the world was Herodes acquitted? Why in the world did the Roman legal system provide so few protections for battered women? Why were women in the ancient world so disempowered that their voices–just like Regilla’s–could not be heard? How did a woman who was so powerful and wealthy in her own right end up in such a desperate and deadly domestic situation?Although we discuss these questions from a historical context, we can’t really answer them. There are no good answers to why Regilla was killed by her husband nor to why he escaped punishment.