The Lives of Ancient Roman Women

Video

Kelly Macquire
by
published on 05 July 2022

The lives of ancient Roman women and the exact roles played by them both in ancient Rome and all throughout the ancient world are pretty obscure, due to the focus of both the ancient male writers, and the nineteenth and twentieth-century male scholars, who largely ignored them. It has only been recently that modern scholarship has begun working to demystify the lives of women from biassed source material written by men. By looking objectively at the ancient evidence concerning women in ancient Rome, we are getting a clearer and clearer picture of their rights, duties, status, and daily lives.

Women were pretty restricted in public life, they couldn’t attend, speak at, or vote in political assemblies and they couldn’t hold any position of political authority. Some women were able to influence public affairs through their husbands, but this wasn’t too common. Lower-class women had more of a public life, since they had to work for a living, with common jobs undertaken by women being in agriculture, markets, crafts, as midwives or as wet-nurses. Some places women were allowed to attend though included the theatre, public spectacles, including gladiatorial games, and Roman public baths. Some women, in fact, participated in the games at the Coliseum as gladiators and, although they might become celebrities, they were still looked down on as lower class.

— TRAVEL WITH WORLD HISTORY ENCYCLOPEDIA —
Discover the Treasures of Ancient Greece Guided Tour https://www.worldhistory.travel/

— SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON—
https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia

— BUY OUR MERCH —
https://www.worldhistory.store​/​

— CHAPTERS —
0:00​ Introduction
0:34 Travel to Ancient Greece with us!
1:11 Women in Ancient Rome
1:50 Women, the Family and the Home in Ancient Rome
5:29 Other Women in Ancient Roman Society
8:03 Women in Roman Mythology and Religion
10:47 Imperial and Royal Women
12:20 Outro

— WANT TO KNOW MORE? —
The Role of Women in the Roman World https://www.worldhistory.org/article/659/the-role-of-women-in-the-roman-world/
Vestal Virgin https://www.worldhistory.org/Vestal_Virgin/
Love, Sex, & Marriage in Ancient Rome https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1592/love-sex–marriage-in-ancient-rome/
Roman Mythology https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Mythology/
Vesta https://www.worldhistory.org/Vesta/

— WATCH NEXT —
The Roman Epic Poem The Aeneid: Introduction and Summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2dcqDjxl_c
History of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty of the Roman Empire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE7l5GL8KcI
An Introduction to the Ancient Roman Religion and Mythology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkNRUBZ9GjI
The Life and Reign of Roman Empress Julia Domna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwSuNnWM-RE
Ancient Roman Art and Architecture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agbRzU7DZIk

— ATTRIBUTIONS —
You can find all attribution and credits for images, animations, graphics and music here - https://worldhistory.typehut.com/the-lives-of-ancient-roman-women-images-and-attributions-10213

The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:
https://www.ancientlyre.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A

— THUMBNAIL IMAGE —
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/247009?deptids=13&ao=on&showOnly=openAccess&ft=roman+women&offset=0&rpp=40&pos=8
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Open Access - https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/policies-and-documents/open-access
CC0 - https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/252500?deptids=13&ao=on&showOnly=openAccess&ft=roman+women&offset=40&rpp=40&pos=58
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Open Access - https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/policies-and-documents/open-access
CC0 - https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en

World History Encyclopedia
www.worldhistory.org

#ancientromanwomen #womeninrome #ancientrome

Remove Ads
Advertisement

About the Author

Kelly Macquire
Kelly is a graduate from Monash University who has completed her BA (Honours) in Ancient History and Archaeology, focussing on iconography and status in Pylos burials. She has a passion for mythology and the Aegean Bronze Age.

The video and its description text are provided by Youtube. This website claims no authorship of this content; we are republishing it for educational purposes.

Cite This Work

APA Style

Macquire, K. (2022, July 05). The Lives of Ancient Roman Women. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/video/2802/the-lives-of-ancient-roman-women/

Chicago Style

Macquire, Kelly. "The Lives of Ancient Roman Women." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified July 05, 2022. https://www.worldhistory.org/video/2802/the-lives-of-ancient-roman-women/.

MLA Style

Macquire, Kelly. "The Lives of Ancient Roman Women." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 05 Jul 2022. Web. 19 Apr 2024.

Membership