Roman Women Essays - Marriage, Family, Gender, Spouses, Anthropology

Roman Women The life of a Woman of Rome was filled with many traditions and rules, which were carried on generation after generation. Many say that Roman women were oppressed because they were not allowed to be an active part of society and politics. The book Roman Women by J.P.V.D. Balsdon gives, what I consider to be, an accurate and detailed account of a typical woman in Rome during the Roman Empire. Balsdon writes about the married women of Rome and the formidable ceremonies needed to perform a wedding. The children that soon came after marriage, which was in itself, another worry for women of the Roman culture. Rome also had its share, like most civilizations, of happy and unhappy marriages that women lived through. In addition, there were the less reputable women of Rome, the prostitutes and courtesans. And last, but not least, Balsdon gives a detailed account of a woman's daily life down to hairstyles, make-up, and jewelry. A woman's looks were very important in Rome. A woman revealed no more of her body than a nun does today. She usually wore the standard dress called a stola with light undergarments beneath this. It is a rather interesting fact that this style of dress did not change for three hundred years. Purple and gold, and a dark rose, scarlet, or amethyst were a few of the favored colors for the women of Rome. Women's hair arrangements often occupied a large portion of their time and were performed by a hairdresser. Younger women dressed their hair very simply by drawing it back into a knot at the back of the neck. Most hair was parted down the center and curled into waves, or styled with small ringlets. Make-up, an important part of a woman's beauty process, was only moderately applied unless the woman was a prostitute. Jewels, however, were sometimes lavishly applied. Opals, sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds were popular among the wealthy women. The amount of jewelry a woman wore signified he r husband's wealth. The wedding ceremony in Rome was always preceded by a choice of husband. A girl was deemed ready for marriage at the tender age of twelve. Most boys were considered ready at the age of fourteen. The marriage was considered null if the pair was married before they had reached the age requirement. In higher social classes, the father's arranged the marriages. Both the boy and girl were expected to agree with their father's decision. It was acceptable, however, for the girl to confide in her mother and reveal if she was satisfied with her father's choice or not. The mother was then allowed to express her daughter's feelings to her husband for the choice he had made. Betrothal sometimes happened in infancy. There were certain limitations to this though and Roman law required that the children must be able to understand what was happening, and they must be at least seven years of age. There were three forms of marriage in Rome. Each contained the similar idea that the wife passed from the authority of her father to the submission of her husband. The first form of marriage was a primitive bride-purchase. In the presence of five witnesses, the bridegroom would make a fictitious purchase and then pay the father of the bride a penny for it and, in exchange, received his bride. The second form of marriage was a cohabitation of a man and woman. This marriage, of course, must be declared honorable from the beginning so that the marriage was not confused with a man and his concubine. In this case, the husband did not have full authority over his wife until a year had passed with the two of them living together for that year. Before the end of the fifth century B.C., however, women had found a way to escape total submission to their husband's. The plan was simply that they would leave their husband's house for three days time each year. This meant that they had not been in full company with their husband for the entire year and therefore absented themselves from the law. The third form of marriage was by far the most interesting and could be said to