Iran- Contra Scandal :: essays research papers

Over the centuries ancient Roman society has played a significant role in the creation of a common culture like our own. The material remains from ancient Rome have preserved valuable evidence for the status and accomplishments of the Roman people. Because so many aspects of ancient Roman civilization are respected and followed in society today, such as Roman art, Roman roads, and Roman law, it is important to understand the similarities and differences that ally within the two cultures. One aspect of Roman culture that I found interesting to focus on is the tradition of marriage. A traditional Roman marriage is completely different than a traditional marriage in our culture today, essentially because of the significant change in the role of women over time. Because Roman women had hardly any rights, their role in marriage was extremely limited. Women in ancient Rome barely had any rights by law, so they had very few opportunities to live independently. Roman women were expected to marry at a young age, usually when they reached their teen years or early twenties. A Roman woman's subordination in marriage began even before she became engaged, as it was tradition for a woman's father, or legal guardian to arrange the marriage of their daughters. In her work on Roman Marriage, Susan Treggiari sites a preserved document of a Roman mother explaining the rules of engagement to her daughter: "When you become engaged to someone, your father, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself" (Treggiari, 125). The legal independence of women was also constrained by the institution of guardianship. If a woman outlived her father, it was required by law in Rome to ha ve a guardian, or tutor. The legal sources about the reasons women needed guardians are specific, as they describe women as lacking judgment, were easily victimized, basically because they claimed women were fools. Roman women were expected to be married, primarily because it was almost impossible for them to live independently, but also because single women, or maidens, were just not accepted in society. Most single women though were of the lower class, and had little opportunity to obtain a better life. "Free-born women continued to scratch our a living as laundresses, weavers, butchers, and fish-sellers, or in one of the occupations that are recorded on inscriptions at Pompeii: bean-dealer, nail-seller, brick-maker, even stonecutter.