Marriage during the Roman Republic was seldom based upon romance. Contrary to marriages in today’s society, marriage in ancient Rome was a very structured, highly logical arrangement between two families. Legally, as written in Augustan legislation, a Roman woman needed to be, at minimum, twelve years of age in order to get married (Clark, 1981). Most women typically did not get married until they were around twenty years old so that they would be more mature and better able to handle the duties and responsibilities of a traditional Roman wife. When a Roman girl became of age, her father would find her a suitable husband, typically to increase the family’s wealth or social status, and also to create alliances between multiple powerful families
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Once married, a wife’s primary role was to bear and raise the children, while also managing the home All children born between a husband and wife were ultimately the property of the husband, with which he could do whatever he pleased (Clark, 1981). If a wife was unable to bear children, despite being an otherwise good, traditional Roman wife, men were allowed to get a divorce in order to find another wife that was fertile enough to bear their children (Clark, 1981). By divorcing women who could not have children, Roman men illustrated that women were merely inanimate objects; objects that they were easily able to dispose of and replace with a different model, so to speak. The widespread acceptance of this practice also proves that having children, and lots of them, was an incredibly important aspect of Roman marriage. The gender roles in this case once again reveals men to be the dominant force over women, since women had to agree to the divorce while disregarding their sentiments for their respective spouses, if they even had any. Lower class women would have to perform duties themselves, but upper class women would have slaves and servants to help them carry out these duties. Roman women were also expected to host the guests of the husband in the
Once married, a wife’s primary role was to bear and raise the children, while also managing the home All children born between a husband and wife were ultimately the property of the husband, with which he could do whatever he pleased (Clark, 1981). If a wife was unable to bear children, despite being an otherwise good, traditional Roman wife, men were allowed to get a divorce in order to find another wife that was fertile enough to bear their children (Clark, 1981). By divorcing women who could not have children, Roman men illustrated that women were merely inanimate objects; objects that they were easily able to dispose of and replace with a different model, so to speak. The widespread acceptance of this practice also proves that having children, and lots of them, was an incredibly important aspect of Roman marriage. The gender roles in this case once again reveals men to be the dominant force over women, since women had to agree to the divorce while disregarding their sentiments for their respective spouses, if they even had any. Lower class women would have to perform duties themselves, but upper class women would have slaves and servants to help them carry out these duties. Roman women were also expected to host the guests of the husband in the