Any historical investigation into the lives of ancient women involves individual interpretation and much speculation. One can read the ancient sources concerned with women and their place in society, but to a large degree, they are all secondary sources that were written by men about women. No ancient journals or personal diaries written by Roman women were uncovered, so it is not known what their hopes and dreams were, or if they had any. What Roman women felt about most political issues and the numerous wars and upheavals is also a mystery. Nor can we read about what women thought of slavery, marriage, or the fact that they had no legal rights over their children or even themselves. The scope is truly limited, but many questions can still be asked and considered, such as: what was the role of Roman women in their society? Were they considered citizens who had personal freedoms, or were they sequestered away and given little or no education? Was individuality and personal choice a part of women's lives, or were they overshadowed by the patriarchal society of which they were a part? The answers may be difficult to uncover, but they are important questions to ask when one realizes that so much of Roman civilization went on to lay the foundation of our own modern society. Understanding the past makes the present that much clearer and hopefully provides insight into the future, thereby helping society not to make the same mistakes again.
When looking at the sources for ancient Roman women, it is quickly evident that most of them deal with the aristocracy. It was men from the upper classes who received the best education and the best positions in society, and this enabled them leisure time to reflect on their world and to write about it. As is the case with most people, they wrote about their own experiences and when it came to women, it was their own relatives and wives they wrote about. Certainly, aristocratic women and those from other upper levels of Roman society did not make up the majority of the female population, but it is pieces of their lives that we have to look at. Evidence for what poorer women suffered during the Roman Republic and the Empire is very fragmentary, however, women of all economic levels shared one overwhelming pervasive role and responsibility, no matter the social position they possessed: that of child bearer.
Women, or more correctly, girls, were usually married by the time they were twelve years old, sometimes even younger.(1) In our modern world, this seems scandalous, but everything must be put into societal contexts. Life expectancy was very different in ancient Rome compared with today. Granted, some people would die of old age, but the majority only reached their twenties and thirties,(2) if they were lucky. Girls married very young. Many died in childbirth or because they were weakened from having too many children without reprieve.(3) A funerary inscription to a woman named Veturia provides a good example of this: she was married at eleven, gave birth to six children, and died at twenty-seven.(4) Women were expected to have as many babies as they could because they were never sure how many of the children would reach maturity.(5) Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, gave birth to twelve offspring, but only two boys and one girl survived.(6)
Aristocratic families wanted male children to carry on the family name and lineage,(7) and expected their wives to be perpetually pregnant.(8) Infertility was actually grounds for divorce, and women would often offer a divorce so that their husbands would have the opportunity to have children with someone else.(9) Women from the lower classes would not be expected to have as many children because they did not have the means to support them.(10) These women may also have worked outside the home to help support their families.(11) Their husbands would still want a son to carry on the family name and if they were a rural family, to help work on the farm. But certainly there was a difference between the higher echelon of Roman society and the lower classes: 