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Roman Society
Marriage, women and
children
Patrician Marriage
• Main goal was the production and rearing of children,
especially among the great political families of the late
Republic – political motivations often dictated unions.
For example, Caesar’s daughter Julia was married to
the much older Pompey to help seal the First
Triumvirate in 60BC.
• Financial motivations played a key role in matchups.
Marriages brought connected wealth between families.
• Divorce had become common, at least among the
Patrician families, during the late Republic. This was
not unusual and marriages were often broken up to
satisfy political and financial deals. Divorce was devoid
of stigma.
• In divorces, children normally remained in the custody
of the father.
The Paterfamilias
• Paterfamilias were controlled by a male head of the
household with no living father or grandfather.
• Paterpotestas, power, by the male head, over life and
death of all family members, including slaves and some
freedmen.
• Family courts dominated by the Paterfamilias could
hand out death sentences, though this became rare.
• The Paterfamilias retained the right to accept or reject
every newborn child laid at its feet.
• Dependents of a paterfamilias could number in the
hundreds (and in the later Republic thousands).
• Roman politics in the late Republic depended greatly
on these extended families for governing the empire,
with slaves or freedmen taking on the role of civil
servants.
Marriage customs
• In the upper classes (Patricians) in Rome, marriages
were often arranged for dynastic reasons.
• Paternal (male) consent needed, at least for the first
engagement.
• Banquet held; the man gave his fiancée a large present
and the future father-in-law promised a dowry in
return.
• On the day of the marriage:
o Bride and groom arrived at the house of the bride
o Animal was sacrificed and marriage contract signed
o Groom paid for reception
Roman Women
• Women barred from playing any role in public
life, whether in war or peace.
• Women could play a powerful role behind the
scenes. For example, Augustus’ wife Livia
• Women deemed unfit for military service.
• Women’s voices were thought to lack the
carrying power to make themselves easily
heard in public spaces such as the Forum.
Women: Domestic Power
• Traditionally under a man’s control, manu, first the father’s
and then their husband’s.
• The Roman matron (married woman) ran the household,
controlling the domestic slaves and holding the keys of the
house.
• The matron, by the age of 25 could manage property that
she inherited independently.
• When the husband was away, a wife took control of family
affairs.
• By the late Republic women often joined men at dinner
(often acted as a hostess)
• Girls or women received less education than boys or men.
However, this began to change around the 2nd century BC,
women became more literate and educated.
Women: Increasing Freedom
• Cornelia Gracchus, daughter of Scipio Africanus was among the first
newly independent women.
• Cornelia took control of her six sons’ education – a task traditionally
reserved for the paterfamilias – and selected the finest Greek tutors
for them.
• First women in Rome to have held a literary salon, where poets,
philisophers and politicians gathered.
• She is deservedly a pioneer of women’s indepedence.
• By the 1st century BC women were enjoying considerable freedom
• Augustus tried to restrict women’s freedom in his restoration of
public morality.
• Adultery had become a serious crime and women often lost half
their dowry and could be prohibited from remarrying.
• Women would go to public baths at different times to the men and
were restricted to high seats in the amphitheatre and theatre.
Women of Rome
Working Women
• Most women could never become empress,
politician, or hold public office.
• Some women were able to become doctors (only
small scale).
• Worked as bakers, pharmacists and shopkeepers
either with or without their husbands.
• Main occupation was in the family home.
• In the late Republic women could own, manage
and inherit property.
• Livia Drusilla (59BC – AD29) – Wife of Augustus
Caesar. She gave Augustus invaluable support and
stability. She also talked with Augustus on
matters of political importance.
Children:
Education and Upbringing
• Originally, children were taught by their fathers or paternal
figure in the family.
• Education system was not formal and not open to all children.
• Girls education was almost non-existent beyond a basic level.
• Primary schools, mostly private, taught the three basic subjects;
reading, writing and arithmatic.
• In wealthier families, a paedogogus, a slave tutor took care of
the education of boys.
• Students rarely went on to higher education, where a rhetor
taught the vital art of public speaking.
• The Senate discouraged the spread of higher education due to
the threat it posed to undermining its power.
• Higher education involved learning about Greek philosophy and
culture. Greek political and social systems were seen as inferior.
Roman Children
Chidlren: Coming of Age
• Between the ages of 14 and 19, the Roman male
came of age, putting on a white toga virilis to
mark his status as a full citizen.
• Visited the Tabularium (Records Office) with his
family to be officially enrolled.
• Celebrated coming of age with a family banquet.
• In the Republic, young male citizens were liable
for military service.
• There was a high infant and youth mortality rates
in Ancient Rome so many did not make it to
adulthood.