ET CETERA ANTIQUA

📝 Classical Civilisation essay, Year 11. Mark: 14/15. Teacher feedback: “A fantastic essay, especially your use of sources and looking at different classes of women. Make sure every time you give an opinion it is clearly explained and justified.”

One example of this is their different duties. In Athens, rich kyriae were expected to manage the household and keep it self-sufficient, for example by managing the slaves. This is shown in Xenophon’s ‘Oikonomicos’, when he writes (about the slaves) ‘You [the kyria] are in charge of them and all the duties they perform in the house’, which shows the extent of her duties. However, rich Roman women could call on slaves to assist with domestic tasks and so would be able to spend her life in leisure. This shows that the wealthy Athenian women would have had a more challenging life because their duties were much more demanding than those of the Roman women, who were able to sit and relax; kyriae were responsible for the entire household.

On the other hand, both poor Athenians and Roman women would have similar lives. Both likely would have gone out and have jobs, so their household would have a second source of income. Overall, though, I think this shows Athenian women had a more challenging life, in terms of duties.

A second criterion is their legal freedoms, for example divorce and inheritance. Athenian women could not inherit, but Roman women could, as is shown in the Laudatio Turiae, where Turia skillfully advocates for the validation of her father’s will. This shows Roman women had more legal freedoms. This is further supported by laws surrounding divorce. Roman women could freely initiate divorce and go back to her original paterfamilias’s home. While it was technically possible for Athenian women to appeal for divorce, it was usually very difficult for them to get to a magistrate to do so, which is shown when Alcibiades physically drags his wife Hipparete when she appealed for a divorce from her adulterous husband. This shows Roman women had better lives because they could divorce their husbands if they were unhappy, while Athenian women could potentially be stuck in unhappy marriages.

Finally, Roman women also had more social freedoms. Athenian women could only move around the city with a male escort, while Roman women could go around on their own. Rich Athenian women could also only spend the equivalent of one medimnos of barley in one go, while Roman women could go to markets and buy whatever they wished to. This shows Roman women had better lives because they were not as restricted as Athenian women, who could do nearly nothing without a man present.

In conclusion, Roman women had a far less challenging life because they were much less restricted and had less duties than Athenian women.