Women in Ancient Rome - 1214 Words

Roman Women The Romans believed that women were the weaker sex. Families mourned when a baby girl was born, and sometimes girls were exposed - left out in the cold to die - if the father was displeased. Often daughters were hated by their fathers. Doctors thought that a woman’s womb moved about inside her body, from her stomach to her legs, and caused hysteria, fainting and fits. However highborn a woman was, she was not a citizen and could not vote. Women had few legal rights, and were dependent on their fathers or husbands. This left them in much the same position as the slaves, who also could not vote and were dependent on their masters. Yet a woman slave, in turn, had a harder life than a male slave. Women slaves could be sold†¦show more content†¦Augustus may have boasted that he controlled his third wife, Livia, but his ‘control’ had no discernible effect on her, for she did just as she pleased. A wealthy women spent her time discussing poetry, law and literature, and trying to influence politics through her husband. Claudius’ fourth wife, his niece Agrippina, murdered him to make way for her son Nero to become emperor (though Nero in his turn had both Agrippina and his own wife murdered). Women wore a dress (stola) and a cloak (palla). Both the inner and the outer stola were made of wool or linen, though wealthy women could wear cool silk from China, or cotton from India. Women had separate baths, or else went in the morning. A wealthy woman suffered for her beauty (though not as much as her slaves did, who might have to spend hours intricately curling and plaiting her hair). According to Martial, she kept her beauty in a hundred boxes. To prevent baldness, her slaves would rub into her scalp a mixture of rats’ heads, rats’ dung and pepper. She would pluck her eyebrows, prepare her skin with a face pack of bread and cream, and then apply powdered chalk or white lead to achieve the fashionable pale complexion - often poisoning herself in the process. Red ochre coloured her cheeks and lips, and eye shadow was made from ash or antimony. False teeth, if needed, could be imported from Germany; sweets freshened her breath. Hairpieces were made from hair taken from slaves. A coloured wax picture survives from aShow MoreRelatedWomen in Ancient Rome Essay1601 Words   |  7 PagesWomen in Ancient Rome In Roman times women were treated differently depending on their class, and family background. However Roman women off all social classes were expected to assume, that they were merely possessions of their fathers and then of their husband. Many Romans told a story (below) about a woman named Cornelia, a Roman woman of the second century BC: An upper-class women from Campania was staying with Cornelia, a mother of the Gracchi brothers. SheRead MoreWomen of Ancient Rome and China Essay2040 Words   |  9 PagesWomen of Ancient Rome and China Women in ancient Rome and China were very different but quite similar as for as their treatment and roles were concerned. In both cultures they were under the protection of their fathers until they married. When they married they were to stay home and be wives, they were not formally educated and learned to manage their households. They were not allowed to disgrace their families in any way and were inferior to men from the moment of birth. Chinese women whetherRead MoreWomen of Ancient Rome China805 Words   |  4 PagesThe empires of Rome and China were very great ones, they both had many similarities and differences in the way they ran their empires. One major difference was the way they treated their women. Both Chinese and Roman women were unequal in social status than the men of the empires were, but they were definitely treated different in both empires. 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