Bissula

{{Short description|4th Century Almannic Woman}}

{{more footnotes|date=August 2018}}

Bissula (flourished in 4th century AD) was an Alemannic woman in the 4th century.{{Cite journal |last=Shanzer |first=Danuta |date=1998 |title=The Date and Literary Context of Ausonius's "mosella": Valentinian I's Alamannic Campaigns and an Unnamed Office-Holder |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4436502 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=204–233 |jstor=4436502 |issn=0018-2311}}{{Cite journal |last=Momigliano |first=Arnaldo |date=1982 |title=An Inscription from Lyons and the Language Situation in Gaul in the Third and Fourth Centuries A.d. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24306194 |journal=Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=1105–1115 |jstor=24306194 |issn=0392-095X}} She was captured by the Romans in 368 at the Battle of Solicinium, in the area of Württemberg, at a young age and became a slave of the Roman poet Ausonius who had participated in the campaign.{{Cite journal |last=Strouse |first=A. W. |date=2014-12-01 |title=In te consumere nomen: The Politics of Naming in Ausonius's Mosella |url=http://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/2021 |journal=Names |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=189–201 |doi=10.1179/0027773814Z.00000000084 |issn=1756-2279|doi-access=free }}{{Citation |last=Richlin |first=Amy |author-link=Amy Richlin |title=Reading Boy-Love and Child-Love in the Greco-Roman World |date=2014 |work=Sex in Antiquity |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315747910-24/reading-boy-love-child-love-greco-roman-world-amy-richlin |access-date=2024-02-22 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315747910-24&type=chapterpdf |doi-broken-date=9 March 2025 |isbn=978-1-315-74791-0}} Ausonius, who by then was a widower of about 60 years of age, fell in love with Bissula and released her from slavery. He wrote a poem on her, de Bissula ("About Bissula"), which he sent to his friend Paulus.{{Cite journal |last=Drinkwater |first=J. F |date=1999 |title=Re-Dating Ausonius' War Poetry |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/1212 |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=120 |issue=3 |pages=443–452 |doi=10.1353/ajp.1999.0033 |issn=1086-3168|url-access=subscription }}