Final answer:
Women in Romania and ancient Rome were sometimes accused of being vampires or engaged in witchcraft due to cultural fears and myths about female healers and magic practitioners, particularly elderly women who were mistrusted and depicted as hideous or involved in sinister magical practices.
Step-by-step explanation:
The accusation of women in Romania and ancient Rome being vampires or involved in vampirism can be traced back to myths and anxieties surrounding female behavior, healers, and magic practitioners. Stories from historical texts, like the Satyr icon, Livy's accounts, and depictions of the striges, reveal a pattern of fear and mistrust towards women who were often associated with magic or seen as a threat to societal norms. Accusations could be leveled against women in power, such as matronae concocting poisons, or enslaved women who made claims about others' criminal activities, as shown by the case brought to Q. Fabius Maximus.
Particularly elderly women were targets for such suspicions, as they were often described as hideous or disgusting in Roman literature, and were thought to be involved in sinister magical practices, feeding cultural fears. These accounts contribute to the historical notion that these wise women or healers could be accused of being witches or engaging in vampirism, especially when their behavior deviated from Roman ideals.