The Role of Women

By Lydia Pokluda

How were girls and women named?

• Identified by feminine (grammatical gender) of family name

• Numerical adjectives distinguished sisters• Nomenclature• Did not have praenomen• Some families added cognomen

Roman Girls Treated differently than Boys

• Homeschooled• Learned different skills than boys• Played with rags and dolls• Some played board and ball games

Ludus Calcorum

A Girl’s Education

• Homeschooled• Learned skills boys didn’t • Learned to run a household• Learned to cook• Learned to be a wife

Marriage

• Similar to our traditions today• Engagement ring• By 14, father chose groom• June was a special month• Religious ceremony followed by a feast• Transferred authority and all of woman’s

property to the “pater familias”• Divorce was legal

Rights of a Woman in the Household

• Center of household• Taught daughters to cook and sew• Took care of home and family• Could not suggest to husband

Attire of Wealthy Women

• Stola -two rectangular segments of cloth joined by fibulae and buttons-Wore the palla over

• Ornate necklaces, armlets, anklets, breast chains, brooches, jeweled buttons, parasols

Jobs of Roman Women

• Promote family and husband’s interests

• Could manage own business• Lower classes: carpenters, dyers, sewers, or

embroiderers• One woman painter• Influenced politics, could not

serve

The Ideal Roman Woman

• Virtuous daughter• Brave wife• Devoted mother• Upper class women became patrons

of their home cities

Attitude towards Powerful Women

• Could not be in army• Could not be hold political office• Were allowed to enter business• Lent money to peers to avoid

moneylenders

Famous Roman Women

• Cloelia helped guards and Roman girls to safety• Lucretia’s rape caused the revolution that

overthrew the monarchy and established the Roman Republic

• Julia Agrippina “Agrippina the Younger” had a double canine in her upper right jaw-good fortune

Bibliography• http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/women.htm

l• http://www.roman-empire.net/society/soc-dress.html• http://www.crystalinks.com/romewomen.html• http://www.richeast.org/htwm/Greeks/Romans/Wright/cl

othing.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Ancient_Rome• http://www.classicsunveiled.com/romel/html/marrcustwo

m.html• http://www.the-romans.co.uk/women.htm• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloelia• http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/ancient_rom

an_jobs.htm• http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlig

ht_objects/pe_mla/g/gold_breast_chain.aspx