The Romans

THE PLACE OF WOMEN

 

Fourth-century AD mosaic from Villa del Casale, Sicily, of female athletes receiving their victory awards. (VRoma: Barbara McManus)

The Romans believed that all women should be under the control of a guardian, who might be the father, husband, or a male relative, or someone appointed by the will of the father or husband, or by an official of the state. The only exceptions up until the time of Augustus were the six vestal virgins; after Augustus the rule was relaxed in cases of freeborn women who had had three children and freedwomen who had had four, provided that there was no husband or father to exercise control. It was customary for marriages to be arranged, and for the size of the dowry to match the social standing of the prospective bridegroom.

Mid-second-century BC urn with scenes from the lives of the deceased: centre, on military service; right, his marriage ceremony, at which the couple clasp right hands, while in his left he holds a scroll. (VRoma: Museo Montemartini: Ann Raia)

Women in Roman times, though discriminated against, and subjected to abuse by poets such as Horace and Juvenal, were still capable of standing up for themselves when aroused. One of the most contentious pieces of Roman legislation was the Oppian Law, brought in on the proposal of the tribune Gaius Oppius after the defeat by Hannibal at Cannae in 216 BC with the object of reducing spending on luxury goods. Among its conditions were that no woman should possess more than half an ounce of gold, wear a dress dyed in a variety of colours, or ride in a horse-drawn carriage in a city or town or within a mile of it except on holy days.

Horse-drawn carriage. (Illustration by John Pittaway from Picture Reference Ancient Romans, Brockhampton Press, 1970)

In 195 BC two of the tribunes of the people proposed to the tribal assembly that the law should be repealed; two others, Marcus and Publius Junius Brutus, announced that they would veto the repeal.

While the heated debate was going on, women rushed out of their houses and blocked the streets and entrances to the forum, protesting that at a time of prosperity they too should be restored to their former splendour. The next day, joined by others from the suburbs, they mass-picketed the homes of the two Brutuses, and only agreed to cease demonstrating if the veto was withdrawn. This was done, and the motion to rescind the law was carried unanimously.

Fourth-century AD mosaic from Villa del Casale, Sicily, depicting prostitute with a client. It would appear that those whose only or principal source of income came from this trade were required to register with the aedile. (VRoma: Barbara McManus)

In such a restricted environment it is not surprising that, except for the obvious callings and those for which women only are fitted or to which they are more suited than men, there seem to have been a comparatively small number of them in professional jobs.

Market stall with cabbages, kale, garlic, leeks, and onions. (From Helen and Richard Leacroft, The Buildings of Ancient Rome, Brockhampton Press 1969)

There are, however, records of a few female doctors, clerks, and secretaries: also hairdressers, for whom training was obligatory, teachers, and the occasional fishmonger, vegetable seller, dressmaker, and wool or silk merchant.

Female gladiators (VRoma: British Museum: Barbara McManus)

Women were expected to possess to a considerable degree that essential Roman quality of pietas, which is untranslatable except as a combination of duty, devotion, and loyalty, especially to the gods, and to one’s parents, husband, relations, and nation. None displayed it more sublimely than Pompeia Paulina, young wife of the aged Seneca, when Nero’s emissary came to order him to commit suicide, while he was at dinner.

Paulina insisted on dying with him, and they sliced open the veins in their arms with a single stroke of the knife. That was not, however, the end of the story. Because of Seneca’s age and the spareness of his frame, his blood was so sluggish that he had to cut open the veins in his legs, too. After persuading Paulina, who was streaming with her own blood, to retire to another room, he dictated a long statement to his secretaries, and then ordered his doctor to give him poison. When this did not do the trick, he had himself lifted into a hot bath and was asphyxiated by the steam.

Meanwhile Nero, hearing what had happened and being unwilling to accept responsibility for Paulina’s death, gave orders for her to be revived. While soldiers stood over them, her staff bandaged her arms and staunched the bleeding. She lived on, faithful to her husband’s memory, the pallor of her face and body testifying to the extent to which her soul had been destroyed.

Wall painting from the “Villa of the Mysteries”, Pompeii, depicting woman with scroll and a child reading. (VRoma: Paula Chabot)

Certainly women were able to attain a degree of education and to absorb and reflect the culture of the times. Some even had some fun, as well as influence: notably Sempronia, whom Catiline earmarked as a potential recruit to his cause in 63 BC. She was of excellent family, married with children, and beautiful. She had studied Greek and Latin literature, she sang to her own accompaniment on the lyre, she danced gracefully. She wrote poetry, she was witty, she was charming, and she was a marvellous conversationalist. She was also promiscuous, broke promises, reneged on debts, and was an accessory to murder.

First-century AD wall painting from Pompeii of a woman playing the lyre in the company of her lover, while a woman stands by. (VRoma: British Museum: Barbara McManus)

Overview of this page [Ref: 5.3]

 

Women in general faced restrictions and discrimination, although there were some who managed to assert their individuality.

 

Notes

Female gladiators

There were certainly female gladiators, some of whom performed at the shows put on by Titus in AD 80 in the recently completed Colosseum. It would seem, from this relief commemorating the release from service in about 100 AD of Amazon and Achillia, that they fought without helmets.

 

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