Freeborn woman in ancient Rome is a citizen ( wife ), but can not vote or hold a political office. Due to their limited public role, women were named less frequently than men by Roman historians. But while Roman women do not have direct political power, those from wealthy or powerful families can and do use influence through personal negotiation. Exceptional women who leave an indisputable mark in history ranging from Lucretia and Claudia Quinta, whose stories take on mythic meaning; Republicans such as Cornelia, the mother of Gracchi, and Fulvia, who led the troops and issued coins with his image; women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the most prominent Livia (58 BC-29 AD), who contributed to the formation of Imperial Customs; and empress Helena ( c. 250-330 AD), the driving force in promoting Christianity.
As with male members in society, elite women and their significant political actions have transcended lower status in the historical record. The inscriptions and especially the epitaph inscriptions documented the names of various women throughout the Roman Empire, but often told little about them. Some of the everyday live-life snapshots are preserved in Latin literary genres such as comedy, satire, and poetry, especially Catullus and Ovid poems, which offer a glimpse of women in the dining room and Roman dressing rooms, at sporting and theater events, shopping, placing on makeup, practicing magic, worrying about pregnancy - all, however, through the eyes of men. The letters published by Cicero, for example, reveal informally how the self-proclaimed man as a big man interacts in front of the household with his wife Terentia and his daughter Tullia, as his speeches demonstrate through the humiliation of the various ways Roman women can enjoy free sex and social life.
The only public role devoted exclusively to women is in religion: the priesthood office of the Vestals. Freed from any obligation to marry or have children, the Vestals devote themselves to the proper research and observation of the rituals deemed necessary for Rome's security and survival but which can not be undertaken by priestly male colleges.
Video Women in ancient Rome
Childhood and education
Childhood and childhood in ancient Rome was determined by social status, wealth and gender. The Romans played a number of games, and their toys were known from archaeological and literary sources. The animal figures are very popular, and some children keep animals and birds alive as pets. In Roman art, girls are shown to play many of the same games as boys, like balls, swinging, and knucklebones. Dolls are sometimes found in the graves of people who died before adulthood. The numbers are usually 15-16 cm high, with jointed limbs, and made of materials such as wood, terracotta, and especially bone and ivory. Girls coming from age dedicate their dolls to Diana, the goddess who cares most about adolescence, or to Venus while they are preparing for a wedding. The noble girls are known to marry as young as 12, while women in lower classes are more likely to marry a little further into their adolescence. Examples of marriage age of noble women can be seen with lifelong friend Cicero, Atticus, who married his daughter Caecilia Attica with Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa when he was 14 years old.
The girls are expected to preserve their chastity, courtesy and reputation, in preparation for the eventual marriage. Minor marriage arrangements with respect to the minimum age (12) and marriage approval are designed to leave the family, especially fathers, with plenty of freedom to encourage girls into marriage at any time and with whomever they deem fit. Marriage facilitates partnerships between fathers and future husbands, and allows the formation of mutually beneficial alliances with both political and economic incentives at heart. The social regime, which is directed towards early marriage and implemented through education and education of children, is very strict for girls. Some, perhaps many, women go to public primary schools, but there is some evidence to suggest that girls' education is limited to this elementary school level. It has been concluded that the guidance of individual school girls at home is led by concerns about threats to girls' decency in coeducational classrooms. Ovid and Martial imply that boys and girls are educated either together or similar, and Livy takes it for granted that the daughter of an officer will be at school. Yet many other historians and philosophers, such as Epictetus, suggest that the educational system, especially rhetorical training, is preoccupied with the development of the masculine virtues; with teenage boys doing school exercises talking publicly about Roman values.
Children of both sexes learn to behave socially by attending a dinner party or other less elitist event. Both sexes participate in religious festivals; for example, at Secular Games 17 BC, the Carmen Saeculare was sung by a girls and boys choir. Children are mature virtuous through scholastic means, with curriculum, language, literature, and philosophy teaching moral teaching. Elite children are taught Greek and Latin from an early age. Among the upper classes, women appear to be highly educated, some very tall, and sometimes praised by male historians for their learning and cultivation. Some women become socially salient, and even relatively independent. Cornelia Metella, Pompey the Great's young wife at the time of her death, is distinguished by her music and her knowledge of geometry, literature, and philosophy. This level of learning demonstrates formal preparation, but among the lower class education is limited and strongly directed at marriage, and performs the duties of women in the household. Elite families pour money into their literary training and the virtues of their daughters to equip them with skills that will appeal to future husbands. Epictetus points out that at the age of 14 years, girls are considered to be on the verge of femininity, and begin to understand their future role as wives. They learn decency through explicit teaching and education.
The lives of boys and girls begin to deviate dramatically after they are formally coming of age, and warnings for women recognize their domestic quality far more often than intellectual achievement. The skills required of a Roman helmsman to run the training required by the household, and mothers may share their knowledge with their daughters in a manner consistent with their position in life, given the emphasis in Roman society on traditionalism. Virginity and sexual purity are culturally valued qualities, and are considered essential for family and state stability. The rape of an unmarried girl poses a threat to her reputation and marriage, and the death penalty is sometimes imposed on an unholy daughter. Emperor Augustus introduced the marriage law, Lex Papia Poppaea, who awarded marriage and gave birth to a child. The law also imposes punishment on young people who fail to marry and those who commit adultery. Therefore, marriage and childbirth are legalized between the ages of twenty-five and sixty for men, and twenty and fifty for women.
Maps Women in ancient Rome
Women in family and law
Always a princess
Both girls and boys are subject to the patria potestas, the power their fathers have as heads of families ( familia ). A Roman household is considered a collective ( corpus , "body") where pater familias has mastery ( dominium ). Slaves, who have no legal standing, are part of the household as property. In the early Empire, the legal status of girls differed little if at all from boys. If the father dies without a will, the right of a daughter to share in a family property equals a son, though the law of the 2nd century BC has sought to limit this right. Even regardless of legal status, daughters appear to be no less valued in Roman families than boys, although sons are expected to ensure the family stands by following their father into public life.
The family fathers have the right and obligation to find husbands for their daughters, and the first marriage is usually arranged. Technically, the couple must be mature enough to approve, but the age of consent is 12 for girls and 14 for boys, although in practice boys seem to be on average five years older. Among the elite, 14 is the age of transition from childhood to adolescence, but engagement may be set for political reasons when the couple is too young to marry, and in general the noble women marry younger than women of the lower classes. Most Roman women will marry in their teens to early twenties. An aristocratic girl is expected to be a virgin when she marries, as might be shown by her young age. A girl can legitimately reject a match made by her parents simply by showing that the proposed husband has a bad character.
In the early Republic, the bride was subjected to her husband's potestas , but to a lesser extent than their children. However, in the early Empire, a daughter's legal relationship with her father remained unchanged when she married, though she moved into her husband's home. This arrangement was one of the factors in the degree of independence that Roman women enjoyed compared to many other ancient cultures and to the early modern period: although he had to formally answer his father, he did not live his daily life under his direct supervision, and her husband did not have the legal power over him.
A girl is expected to submit to her father and remain faithful to her, even if it means to be different from her husband. "Respect" is not always absolute. After arranging her first two marriages, Cicero disagreed - rightly, apparently - from her choice to marry an unreliable Dolabella, but found herself unable to prevent her.
A girl keeps her or her own family name ( nomen ) for life, instead of thinking of her as her husband. Children usually take father's name. However, in the Imperial period, children may sometimes make their mother's surname part of them, or even adopt it.
Female Women and sexuality
From the beginning of the Roman republic, there was a high emphasis on virginity of a woman. Puderiia (purity) is a goddess of feminine purity, and worshiped by a Roman woman. Only those virgins are allowed into the temple. A woman's sexual life begins with the completion of her marriage in her husband's cubicle, or private room where the slave does not enter. In Roman houses it is common for men and women to each have their own cubicula, allowing their potential to engage in separate sex lives with each other. Although it is hoped that women should only have sex with their husbands, it is common for men to have multiple sexual partners throughout their lives. After marriage, women are researched in the household to prevent obscene behavior. For example, Julius Caesar's first wife, Pompeia, highlights this well when she tries to have a personal relationship with Publius Clodius. Julius Caesar's mother, Aurelia, monitored Pompeia's actions and prevented their private encounters. The possibility of Pompeia committing adultery caused Caesar to divorce her.
Augustus campaign for women and families
Obsession with the purity of a woman, and her role as a faithful wife and a devoted mother in the family increased during the reign of Augustus. The general campaign to improve family dynamics began in 18-17 BC. Augustus's new law targets men and women between the ages of 20-55, who are rewarded for being in a healthy relationship, and punished if they are not married and without children. In addition, Augustus upholds divorce and punishes wives who commit adultery. Women under his rule may be punished in court for adultery and exile. It transforms a woman's body and relationships into a private, regulated public matter. Therefore, the palace is guaranteed and encouraged by this idea that women will be returned to their proper place as holy wives and mothers, and thus the order of the household will be restored. Augustus went so far as to punish and alienate his own daughter, Julia, for engaging in out-of-the-way affairs.
Female Women and law
Although the rights and status of women in the earliest period of Roman history were more limited than in the Republic and the Empire, at the beginning of the 5th century BC, Roman women could own land, write their own will, and appear in court. Historian Valerius Maximus devotes some of his work to Impressive Words and Speeches for women who perpetrate cases on their own behalf, or on behalf of others. These women demonstrated the ability as an orator in the courtroom, although speech was considered a pursuit defining the most ambitious Roman. One of them, Maesia Sentinas, was identified by its origin in the city of Sentinum, and not, as usual, by its relationship to a man. Independent Maesia speaks in his own defense, and is released almost unanimously only after a brief hearing because he speaks with such strength and effectiveness. Because these characteristics are considered masculine, however, historians argue that under her feminine appearance, she has a "male spirit," and after that she is called "Androgyne."
Maesia's ability to present a case "methodically and passionately" shows that while women do not regularly confess in open court, they have experience in personal reclamation and family courts. Afrania, the wife of a senator during the Sulla period, appeared so often before the praetor who presided over the court, even though she had male supporters who could speak for her, that she was accused of calumnia, a malicious prosecution. A decree is consequently enforced that women are forbidden to bring claims on behalf of others, on the grounds that it endangers their puderiia, appropriate politeness for one's station. It has been noted that while women are often prosecuted for their weaknesses and legal ignorance, and thus require protection by male supporters, in reality actions are taken to limit their influence and effectiveness. Despite these particular limitations, there are many examples of women taking action based on information in legal matters in the Republic and the Final Countries, including dictating a legal strategy to their backstop supporters.
An emancipated woman legally becomes sui iuris , or her own person, and can own the property and throw it away when she sees fit. If a father fathers died, the law required the sharing of the same property among his children, irrespective of their age and gender. Desires that do otherwise, or release any family members without legal process, can be challenged. From the end of the Republic and beyond, a woman who inherits the same part as her brothers will be independent of agnatic control.
As in the case of a minor, an emancipated woman has a legal guardian ( tutor ) assigned to her. However, he retains his authority as an administration, and the ultimate goal of the guardian if not the only one is to grant official permission to act. The guardian has no voice in his personal life, and a sui iurist can marry as he pleases. A woman also has a certain escape route if she wants to replace obstructive teachers. Under Augustus, a woman who had obtained ius liberorum, a legal right to privilege after the birth of three children, was also freed from the guardianship, and the emperor Claudius forbade the great guard. The role of guardianship as a legal institution gradually diminished, and in the 2nd century AD, Gaius lawyer said that he saw no reason for it. The Christianization of the Empire, beginning with the conversion of Emperor Constantine in the early 4th century, ultimately has consequences for the legal status of women.
Wedding
The honorific inscriptions of Roman family tombs show that the ideal Roman marriage is one of reciprocal allegiance, where husbands and wives share interests, activities, and property.
In the earliest period of the Roman Republic, a bride passed from her father's control to her husband's "hand" (manus). She later became the target of her husband's potestas, albeit to a lesser extent than their children. In the early period of Roman history, Manus Marriage meant that a married woman would be conquered by her husband, but that custom had died in the 1st century BC, favoring a Free Wedding that did not grant any right to her husband to his wife. or have a changed effect on the status of women. During the classical era of Roman law, marriage required no ceremony, but only a common will and agreement to live together harmoniously. The marriage, contract, and other formalities are only meant to prove that the couple, in fact, are married. Under ancient or ancient Roman law, marriage consists of three types: confarreatio, denoted by the division of bread ( farreus panis ); coemptio , "by purchase"; and intestines , with joint cohabitation. Nobles are always married to confarreatio, while the Plebeians marry the last two types. In intestinal marriage, if a woman is absent for three consecutive nights at least once a year, she will avoid her husband establishing legal control over her. This is different from the Athenians' habit of arranging matchmaking and exiled wives who should not walk on the street without being deported.
The form of marriage known as manus was the norm in the early Republic, but it became less frequent thereafter. Under this early form of marriage, the bride passed to the "hand" ( manus ) of her husband; that is, he was transferred from the potestas from his father to her husband. Maharnya, any inheritance rights transferred through his marriage, and all the property he earns after marriage is his. Husbands can divorce on the grounds of adultery, and some cases of divorce for a wife's infertility are recorded. Manus marriage is an unequal relationship; it transforms the heir of a woman from her siblings to her children, not because she is their mother, but because in law her position is equal to a daughter to her husband. Under manus , women are expected to obey their husbands in almost all aspects of their lives.
This ancient form of marriage was largely abandoned in the time of Julius Caesar, when a woman remained under the authority of her father by law even when she moved into her husband's home. This arrangement was one of the factors in the independence of Roman women who enjoyed relative to many other ancient cultures and to the modern period: The so-called "free" marriage did not cause a change in the personal status of either wife or husband. Free marriage usually involves two citizens, or citizens and people who hold Latin rights, and in the Imperial period later and with official permission, soldiers-citizens and non-citizens. In free marriage, a bride brings the dowry to her husband: if the marriage ends without the cause of adultery, it returns most of it. So the total is the separation of property law that the reward between spouses is not recognized as such; if a spouse divorces or even lives apart, the giver can reclaim the prize.
Divorce
Divorce is a legal but relatively informal affair that mainly involves a wife who leaves her husband's home and takes back his dowry. According to historian Valerius Maximus, divorce occurred in 604 BC or earlier, and the code of law embodied in the mid-5th century BC by the Twelve Tables provides divorce. Divorce is socially acceptable if done in social norms ( mos mororum ). In the days of Cicero and Julius Caesar, divorce was relatively common and "shameless", the subject of gossip and not social disgrace. Valerius said that Lucius Annius was not approved because he divorced his wife without consulting with his friends; that is, he takes action for his own benefit and without considering its impact on his social network ( amissia and clientela ). The 307 BC censorship thereby expels him from the Senate for moral depravity.
Elsewhere, however, it is claimed that the first divorce took place only in 230 BC, at the time Dionysius of Halicarnassus noted that "Spurius Carvilius, a different man, was the first to divorce his wife" on the basis of infertility. It is most likely this Spurius Carvilius Maximus Ruga who became a consul in 234 and 228 BC. The evidence is confusing.
During the classical period of Roman law (the end of the Republic and the Principal), a man or woman can end marriage just because he wants, and no other reason. Unless a wife can prove that the couple is worthless, she takes care of the children. Since the property remains separate during the marriage, divorce from a "free" marriage is a very easy procedure.
Marry again
The frequency of remarriage among high elites. A quick marriage back is not unusual, and perhaps even ordinary, for the aristocratic Romans after the death of a spouse. Although no official waiting period is set for a widower, it is common for a woman to remain in mourning for ten months before getting married again. Duration allows pregnancy: if a woman becomes pregnant before the death of her husband, the ten-month period ensures that no questions about the father, which may affect the social status and heritage of the child, will be attached to birth. There is no law prohibiting pregnant women to marry, and there is a famous example: Augustus married Livia when she brought her ex-husband's son, and the College of Pontiffs decided that it was allowed as long as the boy's father was determined first. Livia's husband previously even attended the wedding.
Because elite marriages often occur for political or property reasons, a widow or widow with assets in these areas faces several barriers to remarriage. She is far more likely to be released legally than the first bride, and has a voice in her husband's choice. The marriage of Fulvia, who led troops during the last civil war of the Republic and who was the first Roman woman to have a face with coins, was seen to show her own political sympathy and ambition: she married first to popular champion Clodius Pulcher, who was killed on the street after a long feud with Cicero ; then to Scribonius Curio, a figure lacking in ideological cleverness who at the time of his death came to Julius Caesar; and finally to Mark Antony, the last opponent of the republican oligarchy and the first emperor of Rome in the future.
Greek observer Plutarch points out that a second marriage among the Romans is likely to be a quieter affair, because a widow will still sense the absence of her deceased husband, and a divorced widow should feel ashamed. But while the situation of divorce may be embarrassing or embarrassing, and staying married to the same person for life is ideal, there is no general refusal to remarry; on the contrary, marriage is considered to be the right and desirable condition of adult life for both men and women. Cato the Younger, who presented herself as an example modeling her moral name, allowed her pregnant wife Marcia to divorce her and marry Hortensius, refusing to offer her young daughter to the 60-year-old orator. After Marcia's widow inherited considerable wealth, Cato married her again, in a ceremony that lacked much formalities. Women may be ridiculed, however, for being too often married or fickle, especially if it can imply that sexual appetite and pride are the motives.
Concubinage
A concubine is defined by Roman law as a woman living in a permanent monogamous relationship with a man not her husband. There is no disrespect as a concubine or living with a concubine, and a concubine can be a wife. Rewards can be exchanged between partners in concubinage, in contrast to marriage, which retains a clearer property separation.
Couples are usually forced to concubinage when social rank inequality is a barrier to marriage: for example, a man from the senatorial level, and a lower social woman, such as a free woman or a person of poverty or dubious prostitution. Two partners who do not have the right to a legitimate marriage known as konubium may enter into concubinage, or even a noble lady who loves a man with low social status. Concubinage is different from marriage especially in the status of the child born of the relationship. Children have their mother's social rankings, and unlike their father's customs.
Domestic harassment
Classical Roman law does not allow domestic violence by a husband to his wife, but like any other crime, a law against domestic violence can be considered a failure to prevent it. Cato the Elder says, according to her biographer, Plutarch, "that a man who beats his wife or child, puts a cruel hand on sacred holy things, and that he thinks it is more praiseworthy to be a good husband than a good senator. " A man of status during the Roman Republic is expected to behave moderately against his wife and to define himself as a good husband. Beating a wife is a sufficient reason for divorce or other legal action against the husband.
Domestic harassment enters historical records especially when it involves excessive excesses from the elite. Emperor Nero is suspected of having his first wife (and half-brother) killed by Claudia Octavia, having subjected him to torture and imprisonment. Nero then marries her pregnant girlfriend, Poppaea Sabina, whom she kicks to death for criticizing her. Some modern historians believe that Poppaea died of miscarriage or childbirth, and that the story was exaggerated to vilify Nero. The hated Commodus allegedly also killed his wife and sister.
motherly
The Roman wives were expected to bear children, but the noble women, accustomed to the level of independence, showed an increasingly strong tendency to devote themselves to the traditional motherhood. In the 1st century AD, most elite women avoid feeding their own babies, and employ wet nurses. The practice was not uncommon at the beginning of the 2nd century BC, when Plautus comic playwriters mentioned the wet nurses casually. Since maternal milk is considered best for infants, aristocratic women may still choose to breastfeed, unless physical reasons prevent it. If a woman chooses not to breast-feed her own child, she can visit Columna Lactaria ("Milk Column"), where poor parents can get milk for their baby as a charity from a wet nurse, and those who can afford it can choose to hire a nurse. Licinia, wife of Cato the Elder (v. 149 BC), reportedly not only took care of her son, but sometimes the baby of her slaves, to encourage "brotherly affection" among them. At the time of Tacitus (died 117 CE), suckling by elite mothers was idealized as a virtuous old days practice.
The extent to which Roman women expect their husbands to participate in the care of very young children seems to be varied and difficult to determine. Family-traditionalist values ​​like Cato seem to be interested: Cato likes to be present when his wife is bathing and rebuilding their child.
The extended family is not the norm among the elite even by the Late Republic; Clodius Pulcher's family, who has at least three sisters and two brothers, is considered unusual. The birth rate among the aristocracy declined in such a way that the first Roman emperor Augustus (ruled 27 BC - 14 CE) issued a series of laws intended to increase it, including a special award for women who gave birth to at least three children (ius trium liberorum) . Unmarried, divorced, widowed, or barren are forbidden to inherit property unless specified in a will.
Roman women are not only appreciated for the number of children they produce, but also because they are in raising and educating children to be good citizens. To raise children for a successful life, an exemplary Roman mother must be educated herself.
One of the most famous Roman women for their strength and influence as a mother was Cornelia, the mother of Gracchi. Julius Caesar, whose father died when he was a teenager, had a close relationship with his mother, Aurelia, whose political influence was critical in preventing the execution of his 18-year-old son during the Sulla ban.
Daily life
Aristocratic women manage large and complex households. Because wealthy couples often own many houses and state estates with dozens or even hundreds of slaves, some are educated and highly skilled, this responsibility is equivalent to running a small company. In addition to the social and political interests of entertaining guests, clients, and visiting officials from abroad, husbands hold their morning business meetings (salutatio ) at home. The house ( domus ) is also the center of the family's social identity, with the portrait of the ancestors displayed in the front hall ( atrium ). Because the most ambitious aristocrats are often away from home in military campaigns or administrative tasks in the provinces, sometimes for years at a time, family property maintenance and business decisions are often left to wives; for example, while Julius Caesar was away from Rome in the 50s BC, his wife Calpurnia was responsible for taking care of his assets. When Ovid, the greatest poet of Rome alive, was exiled by Augustus at 8 AD, his wife exploited social connections and legal maneuvers to hold on to family property, where their livelihood depended. Ovid expresses his love and admiration for his luxuries in the poems he wrote during his exile. Frugality, stinginess, and austerity are characteristics of a virtuous warden.
One of the most important tasks for women to oversee in large households is the production of clothing. In the early Roman period, wool spinning was a central domestic work, and indicated family independence, since wool would be produced on their plantations. Even in urban environments, wool is often a symbol of a wife's duties, and spinning equipment may appear on a woman's funeral monument to show that she is a good and respectable warden. Even the women of the upper classes are expected to spin and weave in the virtuous emulation of their rough ancestors - a practice that is conspicuously observed by Livia.
In business
"One of the strangest characteristics of that age," says French mathematician Gaston Boissier, "is that the women seem to be heavily involved in business and are attracted to speculations like men.The money is their first treatment They work on their plantation , invested their funds, loans and loans.We found one among Cicero's creditors, and two of the debtors. "Although the Romans did not allow women to gain official political power, it allowed them to enter the business.
Even wealth women are not supposed to be dreams of leisure. Among the aristocracies, women and men lend money to their friends to avoid the use of loan sharks. When Pliny was considering buying land, he considered a loan from his mother-in-law as collateral rather than an option. Women also joined in funding public works, as is often documented by inscriptions during the Empire period. Politta "lawless", which appears in the Martyrdom of Pionius, has plantations in the province of Asia. The inscription records his generosity in funding the renovation of the Sardis gymnasium.
Because women have the right to own property, they may be involved in the same business transaction and management practices with any landowner. Like their male counterparts, the management of their slaves seems to vary from relative care to negligence and direct harassment. During the First Servile War, Megallis and her husband, Damophilus, were killed by their slaves because of their brutality, but their daughter was saved because of her kindness and provided a safe road outside of Sicily, along with armed escort.
Unlike land ownership, industry is not regarded as a respectable profession for those who hold senatorial positions. Cicero suggested that in order to gain honor, a trader had to buy the land. Attitudes changed during the Empire, however, and Claudius made laws to encourage the upper classes to engage in the delivery. Upper-class women are documented as owners and run a shipping company.
Trade and manufacturing are not well represented in Roman literature, produced for and mostly by elites, but the cemetery inscriptions sometimes record the professions of the deceased, including women. Women are known to own and operate a brick factory. A woman may develop skills to complement her husband's trade, or manage her business aspects. Artemis the goldsmith was married to Dionysius the helmet maker, as demonstrated by the curse tablets demanding the destruction of their households, workshops, workplaces and livelihoods. The status of an ordinary woman who owns a business seems extraordinary. The law during the Imperial period that aims to punish women for adultery frees those "responsible for any business or store" of prosecution.
Some typical jobs for women are wet nurses, actresses, dancers or acrobats, prostitutes, and midwives - not all of the same honor. Prostitutes and artists such as actresses are labeled as infames , people who ask for help are a bit of legal protection even if they are free. The inscription shows that a woman who is a wet nurse ( nutrix ) will be very proud of her job. Women can be clerks and secretaries, including "girls trained to write beautiful," ie, calligraphers. Pliny gives a list of female artists and their paintings.
Most Roma live in insulae (apartment buildings), and homes in poor and non-poor families are usually lacking kitchen. The need to buy ready-to-eat foods means that take-home food is a thriving business. Most of the Roman poor, male or female, young or old, earn a living through their own labor.
In politics
The men argue firmly to block women from engaging in the public sphere. The political system in ancient Rome involved men exclusively - from senators to judges. Women are even prevented from choosing. They are not considered appropriate to be part of the political sphere when people believe that they are only suitable for "elegance, jewelry, and jewelry." However, elite women can manipulate their husbands and through them exercise control over the world of politics. In some cases, women are seen as a threat to the male government. Cato the elder went further to prevent the boys from attending senatorial meetings in fear that they would deliver the news to their curious mothers.
During the civil war that ended the Republic, Appian reported the heroism of wives who saved their husbands. A tombstone known as Laudatio Turiae maintains a husband's speech to his wife, who during the civil war after the death of Julius Caesar endangers his own life and releases his jewelry to send support to her exiled husband. Both survived the turbulence of time to enjoy a long marriage. Porcia, the daughter of Cato Muda and the wife of Brutus the mercenary, was out of luck but (in the eyes of time) heroism ended: she committed suicide when Republic collapsed, just as her father did.
The emergence of Augustus to the only power in the last decade of the 1st century BC has diminished the power of political position holders and traditional oligarchs, but has done nothing to reduce and argue for increased opportunities for women, as well as slaves and free men, to exercise influence. behind the scenes. Before this point, women have no right to vote is a clear injustice compared to the power possessed by people. However, beginning with the Augustus government, the inability to vote is no longer important because the senate loses its power. In addition, the transition from forum to palace allows for women who live there to gain support in influencing politics.
One of the most famous women was Livia Drusilla Augusta (58 BC - CE 29), wife of Augustus and the most powerful woman in the early Roman Empire, who acted several times as a bupati and became a loyal adviser to Augustus. Several women from the Imperial family, such as Livia's granddaughter and Caligula's sister, Agrippina the Younger, gained political influence and public advantage.
Women also participated in an attempt to overthrow the emperor who abused their power. Not long after Caligula's brother Drusilla died, widower Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and his young sister Agrippina Muda and Livilla conspired to overthrow Caligula. The plot was found, and Lepidus was executed. Agrippina and Livilla were exiled, and returned from exile only when their father's uncle Claudius came to power after the assassination of Caligula in 41 AD
Women can also be motivated by less than noble goals. Claudius' third wife, Valeria Messalina, conspired with Gaius Silius to overthrow her husband in hopes of installing herself and her lover in power.
Tacitus perpetuated the Epicharisian woman for his part in the Pisonian conspiracy, where he sought the support of the Roman fleet and was captured. Once the conspiracy is revealed, he will reveal anything even under torture, unlike the senators, who are not tortured and have not yet drove to spill out the details. Tacitus also praised Egnatia Maximilla for sacrificing his wealth to stand beside her innocent husband against Nero.
Female Women and Military
The classical text does not say much about Roman women and soldiers. Emperor Augustus (ruled at 27 BC-14 AD) banned marriage by ordinary soldiers, a ban that lasted nearly two centuries. However, it has been proposed since the 1980s that wives and children officers live with them in border and provincial fortresses. In the early 1990s, women's and children's sneakers were found in Vindolanda (Roman fort site in Hadrian's wall in northern England), along with bronze plaques, given to the provincial army whose 25-year service earned them Roman citizenship, which mentioned the wife and their children. Likewise, in Germany, further evidence of this practice is found in the form of brooches and shoes. The Trajan column describes six women among the soldiers who served as a maid who offered sacrificial offerings at a military religious ceremony.
Religious life
Women are present in most Roman festivals and cult celebrations. Some rituals specifically require the presence of women, but their participation may be limited. As a rule, women do not make animal sacrifices, the main ceremony of most public ceremonies, although this is less a matter of prohibition than the fact that most priests who lead the state religion are male. Some worship practices are only for women, for example, the rituals of the Good Goddess (Bona Dea).
The female priest plays an important and important role in the official religion of Rome. Although the male priests college is much more, six women from the Vestals college are the only "full-time professional ministers" in Rome. Sacerdos , plural sacerdotes , is a Latin word for gender pastors. The title of religion for women includes sacerdos , often in relation to gods or temples, such as sacerdos Cereris Cerealis , "Ceres priest", offices once held by men; magistra , high priests, female experts or teachers on religious matters; and ministra , female assistants, especially those serving gods. A magistra or ministra will be responsible for routine maintenance of cults. The epitaph provides the ultimate evidence for these priests, and the woman is often not identified in terms of her marital status.
The Vestals have unique religious distinctions, public status and privileges, and can have a great political influence. It is also possible for them to accumulate "considerable wealth." Upon entering his office, a Vestal was freed from his father's authority. In ancient Roman society, these female priests were the only women who were not required to be under the legal guardianship of a man, instead of answering directly and only to Pontifex Maximus. Their oath of chastity frees them from the traditional duty of marrying and raising children, but the offense carries severe punishment: a Vestal is found to have polluted his office by breaking his oath given food, water, and buried alive. Vestal independence thus exists in relation to the prohibition imposed on them. In addition to performing certain religious rituals, Vestals participate at least symbolically in every official sacrifice, as they are responsible for preparing the required rituals of the salsa mole. The Vestals appear to have maintained their religious and social differences well into the fourth century, until the Christian emperor dissolved the order.
Some priesthoods are held together by married couples. Marriage is a requirement for the Dialis Flamen, Jupiter's high priest; his wife, Flaminica Dialis, had his unique immigrant outfit, and as her husband was placed under an obscure magico-religious ban. Flaminika is an extraordinary case of a woman making animal sacrifices; he offered a ram to Jupiter in each nundinae , an eight-day Roman cycle comparable to a week. The couple were not allowed to divorce, and if the flaminas died, the flamen had to resign from his office.
Like Flaminica Dialis, the sacred ritual queen, wearing special ceremonial attire and making animal sacrifices, offer female or female sheep to Juno on the first day of each month. The names of some reginae sacrorum are recorded by the inscription. The regina is the wife of the rex sacrorum , "the king of the sacred rite," the ancient priesthood considered in the earliest period as more prestigious than Pontifex Maximus.
This very public official obligation for women contradicts the general notion that women in ancient Rome only took part in private or domestic religion. Double male and female priesthood may reflect the Roman tendency to seek a complementary gender within the sphere of religion; most divine powers are represented by men and gods of women, as seen in divine pairs such as Liber and Libera. The twelve major deities are presented as six gender-balanced pairs, and the Roman religion departs from the Indo-European tradition of installing two goddesses in its three supreme protective gods, Juno and Minerva together with Jupiter. These triads "form the core of Roman religion."
From the Central Republic and beyond, religious diversity is becoming increasingly characteristic of the city of Rome. Many religions that are not part of the earliest Roman state cult offer leadership roles for women, among them the Isis and Magna Mater cult. A tombstone retains the title of sacerdos maxima for a woman holding the highest priesthood in the Magna Mater temple near the site of St. Peter's Basilica today.
Despite less documented than public religion, private religious practices address exclusive aspects of life for women. By the time the baby's death rate is as high as 40 percent, divine assistance is required for life-threatening actions and the danger of caring for the baby. Prayers are directed to the goddess Juno, Diana, Lucina, who are in nixi, and a number of divine servants devoted to birth and child rearing.
Male authors vary in their female depictions of religiosity: some of which represent women as examples of Roman virtues and devotion, but also tend to be temperaments to excessive religious devotion, magic lure, or "superstition." Nor is "private" the same as "secret": Rome is suspicious of secret religious practices, and Cicero warns that nightly sacrifices are not done by women, except for those who are ritually determined pro populo the Romans, that is for the good of the public.
Social events
Rich ladies go around the city with the rubbish brought by the slaves. The women gather in the streets every day to meet with friends, attend religious rituals at the temple, or visit the baths. The richest families have private baths at home, but most people go to the bath house not only for washing but for socializing, since larger facilities offer various recreational services and activities, among which free sex is not excluded. One of the most irritating questions of Roman social life is whether both sexes bathe together in public. Until the end of the Republic, evidence suggests that women usually bathe in separate wings or facilities, or that women and men are scheduled at different times. But there is also clear evidence of a mixed bath of the late Republic until the rise of Christian domination in the later Empire. Some scholars argue that only low-class women are bathed with men, or those who have dubious morals such as entertainers or prostitutes, but Clement of Alexandria observes that the highest social class women can be seen naked in the baths. Hadrian outlawed a mixed bath, but the ban did not seem to last. Most likely, habits vary not only by time and place, but by facilities, so women can choose to separate themselves by sex or not.
For entertainment ladies can attend debates at the Forum, general games ( ludi ), train races, and theater performances. At the end of the Republic, they regularly attend dinner parties, although in earlier times women from households ate together in private. Conservatives such as Cato the Elder (234-149 BC) consider it inappropriate for women to take a more active role in public life; His complaints show that indeed some women do voice their opinions in the public sphere.
Although the practice was not recommended, Roman generals sometimes took their wives with them in military campaigns. Caligula's mother, Agrippina the Elder often accompanied her husband Germanicus in his campaign in northern Germania, and the Emperor Claudius was born in Gaul for this reason. Rich women may tour the empire, often participating or viewing religious ceremonies and sites around the empire. Rich women travel to the countryside during the summer when Rome becomes too hot.
Clothing and jewelry
Women in ancient Rome were very concerned about their appearance, though luxuries were not favored. They wear cosmetics and make different herbs for their skin. Ovid even wrote a poem about the correct makeup application. Women use white chalk or arsenic to whiten their faces, or rouge made of lead or carmine to add color to their cheeks and use tin to highlight their eyes. They spend a lot of time to dress their hair and often paint it black, red or blonde. They also wear wigs regularly.
Widows usually wear two simple tunic for underwear that is covered by stola . The stola is a long white dress that snaps at the waist and that falls to the feet of the wearer, secured by a buckle on his shoulders. Richer women will decorate their stola further. When going out, a woman wears palla above the stola , which is held by a buckle on her shoulders. Young women are not allowed to wear stola , and instead wear a tunic. The prostitutes and those who were caught committing adultery were wearing a male toe. Rich women wear jewelry like emeralds, aquamarine, opals, and pearls as earrings, necklaces, rings and sometimes sewn into their shoes and clothes.
After the Roman defeat at Cannae, the economic crisis provoked Lex Oppia's graduation (215 BC) to limit private and public luxuries. The law restricts women's ownership and displays gold and silver (as money or personal embellishments), expensive clothing and the use of their "unnecessary" trains and rubbish. The victory over Carthage flooded Rome with wealth and in 195 BC Lex Oppia was reviewed. The powerful consul, Cato Censor argues for retention: personal morality and self-control are clearly inadequate control of luxury and luxury. Luxury provokes the envy and shame of the underprivileged, and therefore divides. Roman women, in Cato's view, have shown very clearly that their once-broken tastes are boundless, and must be limited. A large number of Roman matadors thought otherwise, and made a public protest together. In 193 BC, the law was abolished: Cato's opposition did not jeopardize his political career. Then, in 42 BC, the Roman woman, led by Hortensia, managed to protest a law designed to impose taxes on Roman women, using the no-tax no-representation argument. Evidence of reduced luxury restrictions can also be found; one of the Pliny Letters addressed to the Pompeia Celerina woman praised the luxury she kept in her villa.
Body image
Based on Roman art and literature, small breasts and wide hips are the ideal body type for women considered attractive by Roman men. Roman art from the Augustan period shows idealized women as substantial and fleshy, with round belly and full breasts, not pendulous. Prostitutes depicted in Roman erotic art have large fleshy bodies and hips, and often have breasts that are covered by strophium (even a bra without a rope) even when otherwise naked and performing sex acts. Big breasts are ridiculed as humor or signs of old age. Young girls wearing strophium are strongly assured in the belief that it will inhibit breast growth, and a breast massage regimen with hemlock, starting when a woman is still a virgin, is considered to prevent sagging. The breast receives relatively minimal attention in erotic art and literature as a sexual focus; Breasts are associated primarily with breastfeeding infants and the role of women as mothers. At times of extreme emotional distress, such as mourning or captivity in wartime, women may bare their breasts as apotropaic movements.
Mos maiorum and love poet
During the final judgment of the Republic for sexuality it is hardly enforced if at all, and a new erotic ideal of romantic relationships emerges. Changing the tradition of male domination, the love poet of the late Republic and Augustan era expressed their desire to submit to "slavery of love" ( amitic servitium ). Catullus discusses a number of poems for "Lesbia," a married woman with whom she had an affair, usually identified as a fictional Clodia, the sister of prominent popular Clodius Pulcher politician. The affair ends badly, and Catullus's love declaration turns into an attack on her sexual appetite - a rhetorical that suits other hostile sources on the behavior of Clodia, Cicero's Pro Caelio .
In The Art of Love , Ovid goes a step further, adopting the genre of didactic poetry to offer instruction in how to chase, defend and forget lovers. Satirists like Juvenal complain about the behavior of a moral woman.
Gynecology and drugs
Hippocratic Corpus's practices and views on women's bodies and their perceived weaknesses are inadequate to address the needs of women in the Hellenistic and Roman era, as women live an active life and are more often involved in family planning. Women's physiology begins to look less familiar than men. In older traditions, sexual intercourse, pregnancy, and birth are not only important for women's health, but also raison d'ÃÆ'ªtre for female physiology; men, on the contrary, are advised to moderate in their sexual behavior, because hypersexuality will cause illness and fatigue.
The view of the Hippocrats that fatal amenorrhea was at Roman times a specific problem of infertility, and was recognized by most Roman medical writers as a possible outcome when women performed intensive physical regimens for long periods of time. Balancing food, exercise, and sexual activity is considered a possible option for women. The observation that intensive training tends to produce amenorrhea means that there are women involved in the regimen.
In the Roman era, medical writers saw a place to exercise in a woman's life in illness and health. Soranus recommends playing ball, swimming, walking, reading aloud, driving a vehicle, and traveling as a recreation, which will improve overall good health. In examining the cause of unwanted non-existence, these gynecologists then enter information about infertility in men, rather than assuming some defects in women alone.
Hypersexuality should be avoided by both women and men. An enlarged clitoris, such as a large phallus, is considered a symptom of excessive sexuality. Although Hellenistic and Roman medical and other authors refer to klitoridectomy as primarily an "Egyptian" custom, the gynecological manual under the Christian Empire in the late antiquity proposes that hypersexuality can be treated by surgery or recurrent births.
Slavery
Freedwomen is a persecuted slave. A freed slave has a service period, whose terms may be agreed upon as a prerequisite of liberty, to his former owner, who is his patron. The patron has obligations in return, such as paying for services and assisting in legal matters. The patron-client relationship is one of the basic social structures of ancient Rome, and the failure to fulfill one's obligations leads to disagreement and condemnation.
In many cases, the liberated woman has the same legal status as the free-born woman. But since under Roman law a slave had no father, the freed slave had no inheritance rights unless they were mentioned in the testament.
The relationship of a former slave to his protector may be complicated. In one legal case, a woman named Petronia Iusta attempted to show - without a birth declaration to prove it - that she had been born free. His mother, he admitted, had become a slave in the household of Petronius Stephanus and Calatoria Themis, but Iusta maintained that he had been born after his mother's release. Calatoria, now a widow, in turn argues that Iusta was born before her mother is free and that she has been discharged, therefore because of her former service owner due to patrons. The Calatoria could not produce the documentation of this supposed forgiveness, and the case came to the testimony of witnesses.
Uneducated or unskilled slaves have little chance of getting their freedom, and if they become free will have no means to support themselves. Therefore, free women in the workplace can have an advantage in the training and skills of a woman born to a poor family working poor.
The status of liberated women, such as freedmen, varies greatly. Caenis was a free woman and secretary to the Vespasian Emperor; he is also his concubine. He is said to have lived faithfully, but he is not considered a wife.
Prostitution
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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