Early histories where written by, and therefore about, the men of the time. This means that historians today have an extremely rich tapestry of the life of men in Ancient Rome and very little indeed about their women. Information is found in varying degrees depending on class and sex. There is a great deal of documentation on the lives of upper-class roman men as they usually wrote about themselves in journals or featured in another’s history. Less is known about the men from the lower classes as few would have had neither the time nor the education to write in great detail. Details about women of the upper class are contained in their letters or in the writings of their husbands.
Yet virtually nothing is known of the thousands of working mothers, slaves, freedwomen (ex-slaves) and free women who lived in Ancient Rome. It is only by way of their death that they are even mentioned. Even their epitaphs reveal nothing more than a job description and nothing about how a lower class woman dealt with the extremely demanding tasks of marriage, children and work. Epitaphs for these women were short, usually because the men who left them could not afford a lengthy biography. After mentioning the woman’s job and her age at death, rarely over twenty-five, is written the name of the man who paid for the stone, sometimes a husband and often and friend or fellow-slave.
Women of Ancient Rome could not have careers. Women were either forced to work as slaves or out of necessity to keep their families from starving. Lower class women who were unmarried were commonly impoverished and were often forced to give away the children they could not afford to keep.
Roman Dressmakers and Hairdressers
A very small comparative minority of Roman women did not need to work. Women of the Roman elite and upper classes came from affluent families and tended to marry equally wealthy men. They could therefore employ personal dressmakers and hairdressers as well as the usual team of household staff.
Upper-class roman women became very proud of their hair and therefore paid to have someone take great care of it. Dyes such as henna were often used and for a natural looking blonde, wigs were made from the hair of Germans defeated in battle. Methods of curling were developed and this type of styling, along with the numerous pins which kept the do in place could often be painful. After a particularly severe tangle had been teased out women would often stab the girl responsible in the arm with the sharpest pin they could find.
Farmers' Wives in Ancient Rome
The abilities of women were in no way underestimated. When men went off to war they left their farms, estates and often many children entirely in the hands of their wives. Agricultural writer Columella advises that each foreman “should be given a female companion both to keep him in bounds and also to assist him in certain matters”.
In his description of the duties performed forewomen, Columella gives a list of tasks which only the most accomplished multi-tasker could achieve: Guarding and inspecting the food and other items entrusted to her; wool-working on frosty days when little else can be done; preparing wool for said frosty days; making clothes for slaves so as not to strain financial accounts of the Paterfamilias; teaching the weavers whatever she knows better or learn from those who know more than she; checking on slaves preparing food; see to the cleaning of all buildings; maintaining cleanliness of sick-rooms; being present when shepherds are milking, calving and shearing; examining wool and counting sheep; directing slaves on how to air the house and furniture and how to polish the metal items; contracting craftsmen to repair broken objects.
This was all in a day’s work for a forewoman and it was hence generally accepted that such women were not in any way useless and quite capable of running an efficient farm. Forewomen were supposed to be kept so busy that Columella writes that “she ought to stay in one place as little as possible, for her job is not a sedentary one”.
Roman Women as Prostitutes
Prostitution was a profession not uncommon in Ancient Rome. The majority of women became prostitutes out of desperate necessity for money or because, as a slave, they had little choice to disobey. As in our own century there were varying levels and some prostitutes did better than others. Those with elegance, intelligence and a comparatively high level of education found themselves favourites among Rome’s elite. Many hotels offered girls to their guests and, as roman men maintained a double standard for fidelity in marriage, there were few, especially in the upper classes, who would turn down such an offer.
Beside the occupations mentioned above there were numerous jobs in trade available to women. Many would assist their husbands in his chosen career and develop great skill in trades like fish-mongering and pottery. Midwifery was, as has always been until recently, very much a woman’s charge and women who assisted doctors with births were well practised and skilful often building a reputation and becoming popular among those in society who mattered.
The image of Ancient Rome as a man’s world is widely accepted and indeed it was such a world. Descriptions of women from that time are few and far between, especially of those who made up such a large part of the population. Although men were clearly dominant it is ignorant to assume that a woman’s power was negligible. Writings of women exist, sparse though they may be, because a woman’s worth was recognised in Ancient Rome. This may be hard for a 21st century woman to understand but this appreciation is clear when one reads an epitaph left by the poorest slave to prove to the world that she was here.
Sources
Columella, On Agriculture, Heinemann, 1941
Ovid, Love Affairs, Oxford University Press, A.D.Melville, 2008
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Walter de Gruyter & Co, 2001
