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Debating Roman Demography Walter Scheidel (ed.) Brill Academic Publishers, 2000. ISBN 90-04-11525-0; Patriarchy, Property and Death in the Roman Family (Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time) by Richard P. Saller. Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-521-59978-4; I Clavdia II: Women in Roman Art and Society.
Ara Pacis showing the imperial family of Augustus Gold glass portrait of husband and wife (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Museo Sacro). The ancient Roman family was a complex social structure, based mainly on the nuclear family, but also included various combinations of other members, such as extended family members, household slaves, and freed slaves.
In ancient Rome women did not have power in the household. However, according to Mathisen, having a recognized marriage, so not illegally marrying into the other class, was important. [14] Having a legally recognized marriage ensured that the children born from the marriage were given Roman citizenship and any property they might inherit. [14]
In the earliest periods of Roman history, Manus marriage meant that a married woman would be subjugated by her husband. That custom had died out by the 1st century BCE in favor of free marriage, which did not grant a husband any rights over his wife or cause any significant change to a newly-married woman's status. [64]
The ancient Greek legislators considered marriage to be a matter of public interest. [1] Marriages were intended to be monogamous. In keeping with this idea, the heroes of Homer never have more than one wife by law, [3] though they may be depicted with living with concubines, or having sexual relationships with one or more women.
A depiction of two lovers at a wedding. From the Aldobrandini Wedding fresco. The precise customs and traditions of weddings in ancient Rome likely varied heavily across geography, social strata, and time period; Christian authors writing in late antiquity report different customs from earlier authors writing during the Classical period, with some authors condemning practices described by ...
However, women of wealthier families had more political power than poorer women as they were able to exert their influence behind the scenes of public, political actions. [7] There were three early forms of marriage that transferred Roman women from one pater familias to another. The first, coemptio, represented the purchase of the bride.
From the late Republic through the Principate, most Roman women married sine manu, meaning that they remained part of their birth family and did not submit to their husband's potestas. Livia , the wife of Augustus, outlived him, and only upon his death did testamentary adoption make her a part of the Julian family.