in ancient Rome, not much is known about women unless she made a significant difference such as marrying an infamous person or if her parents or child did something that changed the history as we know it. What did patrician women do all day and how did it differ to that of plebeians, free-women and slaves? What did women do in business roles, domestic roles, religious roles, political roles and family roles? This essay will attempt to uncover the mysteries of ancient Roman women and to find out why so little is known about women compared to men.
While women weren’t allowed to become parts of the senate or any other political roles, however they were able to persuade their husbands and other men of power into helping her get what she wanted. …show more content…
Another example of a woman who influenced men was Cornelia, daughter of Scipio Africanus, mother of Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus. Cornelia had great influence over both her sons having carefully supervised her son’s education, which were a balance of traditional roman values and the best of Greek learning. Therefore saying that women had no voice in political affairs would technically be true however saying that women had no influence would be wrong.
Patricians, plebeians, freedwomen and slaves alike were able to partake in business roles however different roles were acceptable for different “classes”. Patrician woman would spin wool for clothes for the family. Patrician women would also lend money to their peers so that their peers wouldn’t have to resort to a money lender. Because women …show more content…
In Ancient Rome the oldest male held absolute authority he was known as paterfamilias. The “family” consisted of many generations: the oldest couple, their married sons and their wives and their children, and their unmarried sons and daughters. The “family” also included the slaves and clients, slaves were usually prisoners from wars, however a slave could be freed by the paterfamilias, freed slaves could become clients. Clients were able to enjoy some of the privileges of being family, they were granted land and protection by the paterfamilias in return for financial and political services. The Roman family structure taught the younger generations; obedience and respect for their elders, to perform all of one’s obligations to the family and to the gods, and it also taught them the importance of the mos maiorum (the beliefs that what the forefathers did they should do). The paterfamilias had the right and the duty as the paterfamilias to find husbands for his daughter/s, most Roman women would be married in their late teens to early twenties. A daughter could refuse a match her father made by showing that the proposed husband was bad of
While women weren’t allowed to become parts of the senate or any other political roles, however they were able to persuade their husbands and other men of power into helping her get what she wanted. …show more content…
Another example of a woman who influenced men was Cornelia, daughter of Scipio Africanus, mother of Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus. Cornelia had great influence over both her sons having carefully supervised her son’s education, which were a balance of traditional roman values and the best of Greek learning. Therefore saying that women had no voice in political affairs would technically be true however saying that women had no influence would be wrong.
Patricians, plebeians, freedwomen and slaves alike were able to partake in business roles however different roles were acceptable for different “classes”. Patrician woman would spin wool for clothes for the family. Patrician women would also lend money to their peers so that their peers wouldn’t have to resort to a money lender. Because women …show more content…
In Ancient Rome the oldest male held absolute authority he was known as paterfamilias. The “family” consisted of many generations: the oldest couple, their married sons and their wives and their children, and their unmarried sons and daughters. The “family” also included the slaves and clients, slaves were usually prisoners from wars, however a slave could be freed by the paterfamilias, freed slaves could become clients. Clients were able to enjoy some of the privileges of being family, they were granted land and protection by the paterfamilias in return for financial and political services. The Roman family structure taught the younger generations; obedience and respect for their elders, to perform all of one’s obligations to the family and to the gods, and it also taught them the importance of the mos maiorum (the beliefs that what the forefathers did they should do). The paterfamilias had the right and the duty as the paterfamilias to find husbands for his daughter/s, most Roman women would be married in their late teens to early twenties. A daughter could refuse a match her father made by showing that the proposed husband was bad of