Does anybody know anything about housewives in ancient rome?

Question

Hi. I am doing a project. and we have to write a journal entry about life and stuff like that in Pompeii. And lucky me i drew the housewife card.so if u know anything about housewifes in ancient rome id really appericiate it.
THANX

Answer 1

Unlike the Celtic system, women had very little legal power in the Roman world. They were not allowed to vote, own property etc. But then, what else is new. Women in Victorian England were in the same position.

However, the Roman ideal soldier was depicted as a Farmer/Soldier, sort of like a pioneer. The Roman wife would, therefore, have to look after the farm when the soldier was away. Typical of most land owning families in fact. The wealthier version would have had to make the best use of resources, just like the poorer. This is the romanticised view of Roman wifes. Big farmsteads, lots of slaves and organising the next orgie.

The reality would be quite different. The majority of Roman citizens would not reap the benefits of empire. It was this injustice that allowed Julius to move against the senatorial power. Concequently, most Romans were poor. Many romans lived in single room flats, shoped at the market and prepared food in the single room.

Pompeii was different. It was a holiday resourt. A garden city for the wealthy. Think beverly hills. This was a generally wealthy area. The average roman woman would still have to cook and clean, shopping at the market and making offerings to the gods (Think Catholacism, but with chickens/doves being used to gain a specific reaction from the gods, rather than a set number of hail mairies).

There are a couple of sources that you could look at. Firstly, a good programme that is occasionally aired on UKTV History is "What the Romans did for us". This has some interesting recipies about Roman cookery.

A Google search will produce quite a great deal, but you could do a lot worse, for a general picture of Roman life, than Asterix the Gaul.

Luck

Answer 2

Sorry I wasnt married back then!!!!