rome

• how does birth work in rome

  • paterfamilias' responsibility if the baby is welcomed in the house or subjected to exposure
  • mid wife checks for any deformities then places it at paterfamilias' feet
  • picks it up and holds it = accepted
  • leaves it = given to midwife/slave to expose
• from birth a child is under the direct control of

  paterfamilias
• what is the power a paterfamilas had called

  patria potestas
• why was there a preference for boys over girls

  girls were seen as a finanical drain = expensive dowry, no job and cant bring in money
• what happens if a girl is welcomed into the household by the paterfamilias


  • they put out a couch for Juno which invites her to watch over the baby in its first couple days where its at its weakest/ greatest risk of death
• what happens on the 8th day

  • hold a naming ceremony = girls are given female version of their dads name
  • family makes offerings to gods in their house + party for others and baby is given gifts
• what gifts are given to the baby

  • bulla which is a necklace worn to ward of evil spirits
  • worn thru out childhood and is given up on the day of adulthood which is wedding day
• education for young girls

  • young girls were cared by their mother and slaves and were taught reading, writing, arithmetic a litterator
  • if rich slaves would help with lessons and report back to the paterfamilias
• wax tablets


  boards with frame covered in hard wax and strung together forming books
• stylus


  used to write on hard wax, pointy to engrave letters and flat part to erase mistakes
• papyrus


  early form of paper but expensive so most only used wax tablets, typically in a scroll and written on by ink
• how did education work + as well as for poor families

  there was state education system, families would arrange education for children

  • if poor only the son was educated
• girl subjects


  • basic literacy and numeracy skills , domestic skills (taught by mother or slave) such as spinning wool, weaving textiles, managing household
  • poorer girl = trade to earn money
• boy subjects


  "advanced subjects" - geometry, philosphy, law, music, history and rhetoric - the art of public speaking
• maesia


  roman woman famous for successfully defending herself in the law courts and was found not guilty by large magority suggesting she was educated in rhetoric .
• maesia nickanme


  androgyne as she had the "spirit of the man"
• sappho fresco


  • fresco of an educated upper class pompeian woman from mid 1st century AD
  • educated = stylus to lips and writing books strung together
  • rich = gold earrings, gold hair net and fresco was found in a large villa
• fresco


  painting done on damp plaster , colours are fixed as plaster dries so the painting is part of the wall
• juno


  goddess or marriage and queen of the gods
• what jobs did girls had + how do we know

  from grave inscriptions it tells us that roman girls had jobs such as hairdressers, bakers, jewllery makers
• paterfamilias


  roman male head of the family - would decide whether a child is welcomed into the household or exposed
• litterator


  teacher who teaches primary children - taught reading, writing and arithmetic
• how does marriages get arranged

  • paterfamilias selects a match for the unmarried young woman under his control = doesnt have to be his daughter
• common criteria for the groom

  • strengthen political or business relationships between male members of the household
  • improve social status
  • financial gain due to expensive dowry on the grooms side
• betrothal


  • paterfamilias agrees to a dowry with the grooms side of the family
  • groom and bride need to give consent
• callutus poem analysis


  must have been hard for young girls to go against their paterfamilias wish
• callutus quote


  "its not right to struggle, you, whose father gives you away, your father and your mother prepare you"

  • behave accordingly to father's wishes
• roman law


  • allowed girls to refuse their fiance but only if the father chose a man of bad character
  • girls get betrothed as 7 = hard for a young girl to accuse their father
• what happens after they agree on a dowry (from what part are they betrothed )

  • both sides of family agree on a suitable match + dowry - betrothed
  • doesnt change anything legally, can cancel any time
  • can now get married (normally at 14)
• whats a sponsalia


  after being betrohed, rich families held an engagement party where familky and freidns are invited to the brides house

  • groom normally gives a gift , a ring which is worn on the ring finger
• why did they put the ring on the 4th finger q

  believed there was a vein from finger to heart
• cum manu


  a marriage where the bride is legally transferred to the husbands family

  • dowry required
  • can only inherit from husband not father
  • if she marries the paterfamilias of the family unit she has the title materfamilias
• sine manu


  "without the hand"

  • more common marriage where bride remains under control of her father
  • only inherit from father
  • no dowry
  • must spend 3 consecutive nights away from husband or the marriage transfer to cum manu
• children belonging in cum manu

  • both mother and father
• children belonging in sine manu


  • only father
• coemptio


  marriage ceremony where the bride is symbolically sold to the groom. includes banking scales and gold coin to represent hte transaction
• is coemptio cum or sine manu

  cum manu as it involves the transaction of items
• how does coemptio work

  • bride's paterfamilias put gold coins on a scale representing her dowry and sells her
  • groom plays coins to paterfamilais , hence buys her
• confarretio


  • used by patricians
  • ceremonial cake offered to jupiter in presence of rome's chief priest - Pontifex Maximus and 10 witnesses
  • ceremony is presided by pronuba who joins their hands
  • bride repeats vow "when you are gaius i am gaia"
• joining of hands

  dextrarum iunctio

  • indicated mutual consent of the couple which the vadility of the relationship relies on
  • dextrarum iunctio is seen on many funeral monuments meaning its important/ symbolic moment of the ceremony