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Women In Ancient Rome

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In Ancient Rome women were “defined by the men in their lives and were mainly valued as wives and mothers.” They were usually expected to be married, care for their children and spouse. (pbs.org). Women in Ancient Rome were not allowed to be active in politics, neither was it ideal for them to stand up for themselves in the courts as this was seen as a bad quality in women. Authors such as Valerius describe women who did not keep silent in the Forum or the courts as monsters. “For it is better to record when such a monster died than when it was born”. He also uses words such as plaguing and barking to describe Gaia Afrania when she stood up for herself in the courts. (Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings 8.3). Also, another bad quality would be when women went against the lex Oppia and “concerned themselves with law and interfered within the sphere of men”. (Livy, History of Rome 34.1) This suggests that men felt strongly about women who interfered with what men do as men and women were not seen as equal. They also felt strongly women who chose to stand up for themselves and had a voice, as they expected their women to be pleasant and proper in manner, (CIL VI.15346) and to not argue with her husband “he lived with her for 39 years without a single quarrel or bitter word” (Pliny the Younger, Letter 8.5). …show more content…

However this source can be seen as biased due to it being a secondary source, therefore we do not know whether or not his wife as only the good qualities were spoken of so that their reputation was not

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