INTRODUCTION
The first Christian Roman
Emperor was Constantine the Great. He brought the Roman Head Quarter in the
east; therefore this empire is called Byzantine or the Eastern
Empire. This paper briefly discussed about the status of women during
imperial period starting from Constantine the Great (330 CE) to the downfall of
the Roman Empire (1453 CE). Traditionally, women from those periods were looked
down, but new research or the feminist approach found that women also
contributed a lot in the field of polity, society, religion, literature,
philosophy, theology and music. Following are some of the examples from the new
feminist approach that women played vital roles in various fields.
1.Child
Hood of Roman Women
Roman children played a number of
games, and their toys are known from archaeology and literary sources. Girls
are depicted in Roman art as playing many of the same games as boys, such as ball, hoop-rolling, and knucklebones. Dolls are sometimes found in the tombs of
those who died before adulthood. . Girls coming of age dedicated their dolls to Diana, the goddess most concerned with
girlhood, or to Venus when they were preparing for marriage.Some
and perhaps many girls went to a public primary
school.
Ovid and Martial imply that boys and girls were
educated either together or similarly, and Livy takes it for granted that the
daughter of a centurion would be in school. Children of the
elite were taught Greek as well as Latin from an early age.
Children of both genders learned to behave socially by attending dinner parties
and other events. Girls as well as boys participated in religious festivals; both girls and boys sang formal
compositions in choirs, for instance, at the Secular Games in 17 BC. Among the upper classes,
women seem to have been well-educated, some highly so, and were sometimes
praised by the male historians for their learning and cultivation. Cornelia Metella, the young wife of Pompey the Great at the time of his death, was
distinguished for her musicianship and her knowledge of geometry, literature,
and philosophy.
2.
Women in the family and law
2.1 Always a Daughter
Both daughters and sons were subject
to, the power wielded by their father as head of household. A Roman household
was considered a collective over which the father had mastery. Slaves, who had
no legal standing, were part of the household as property. In the early Empire,
the legal standing of daughters differs little if at all from that of sons. If
the father died without a will, the right of a daughter to share in the family
property was equal to that of a son, though legislation in the 2nd century BC had
attempted to limit this right. Even apart from legal status, daughters seem no
less esteemed within the Roman family than sons, though sons were expected to
ensure family standing by following their fathers into public life.
But of a Roman girl (early 3rd
century)-The father had
the right and duty to find a husband for his daughter and first marriages were
normally arranged. They get married at the age of 12 for girls and 14 for boys.
Among the elite, 14 was the age of transition from childhood to adolescence,
but a betrothal might be arranged for political reasons when the couples
were too young to marry, and in general noble women married younger than women of the lower classes. Most Roman
women would have married in their late teens to early twenties. An aristocratic
girl was expected to be a virgin. A daughter's legal relationship to her father
remained unchanged when she married, even though she moved into her husband's
home. She had to answer to her father legally, she didn't conduct her daily
life under his direct scrutiny, and her husband had no legal power over her.
2.2
Woman and the Law
The rights and status of women in
the earliest period of Roman history were more restricted than in the late Republic and Empire, as early as the 5th
century BC, Roman women could own land, write their own wills, and appear in
court as their own advocates. The women showed ability as orators in the
courtroom, even though oratory was considered a defining pursuit of the most
ambitious Roman men. It has been noted that while women were often impugned for
their feeblemindedness and ignorance of the law, and thus in need of protection
by male advocates, in reality actions were taken to restrict their influence
and effectiveness. Despite this specific restriction, there are numerous
examples of women taking informed actions in legal matters in the Late Republic
and Principate, including dictating legal strategy to their advocate
behind the scenes. An emancipated woman legally could own property and dispose
of it as she saw fit. The law required the equal division of estate among
children, regardless of their age and sex. As in the case of minors, an
emancipated woman had a legal guardian (tutor) appointed to her. the guardian's main purpose was to give
formal consent to actions. The guardian had no say in her private life, and a
woman could marry as she pleased.
2.3
Divorce
Divorce was a legal but relatively informal affair which mainly
involved a wife leaving her husband’s house and taking back her dowry.
According to the historian Valerius Maximus, divorces were taking place by 604
BC or earlier, and the law code as embodied in the mid-5th century BC by the Twelve Tables provides for divorce. Divorce was
socially acceptable if carried out within social norms. By the time of Cicero and Julius Caesar, divorce was relatively common and
"shame-free," the subject of gossip rather than a social disgrace. it
is claimed that the first divorce took place only in 230 BC, at which a man of
distinction, was the first to divorce his wife" on grounds of infertility.
2.4
Remarriage
The frequency of remarriage among the
elite was high. Speedy remarriage was not unusual, and perhaps even customary,
for aristocratic Romans after the death of a spouse. While no formal waiting
period was dictated for a widower, it was customary for a woman to remain in
mourning for ten months before remarrying. The duration may allow for
pregnancy: if a woman had become pregnant just before her husband's death, the
period of ten months ensures that no question of paternity, which might affect
the child's social status and inheritance, would attach to the birth. No law
prohibited pregnant women from marrying.
2.5
Concubine
A concubine was defined by Roman law
as a woman living in a permanent monogamous relationship with a man not her
husband. There was no dishonor in being a concubine or living with a concubine,
and a concubine could become a wife. Gifts could be exchanged between the
partners in concubine, in contrast to marriage, which maintained a strict
separation of property. Couples usually resorted to concubine when inequality
of social rank was an obstacle to marriage: for instance, a man of senatorial rank, and a woman who was a social
inferior, such as a freedwoman or one who had a questionable background of poverty
or prostitution. Two partners who lacked the right to the form of legal
marriage known as conubium might enter into concubine, or even
a highborn woman who loved a man of low social status. Concubine differed from
marriage chiefly in the status of children born from the relationship. Children
had their mother's social rank, and not as was customary their father's.
2.6
Domestic Abuse
Classical Roman law did not allow
any domestic abuse by a husband to his wife, but as
with any other crime, laws against domestic abuse can be assumed to fail to
prevent it. Although modern definitions of what makes a good relationship
between husband and wife might value different things, a man of status during
the Roman Republic was expected to behave moderately toward his wife and to
define himself as a good husband. Wife beating was sufficient grounds for
divorce or other legal action against the husband.
2.7
Mother Hood
Roman wives were expected to bear
children, but the women of the aristocracy, accustomed to a degree of
independence, showed a growing disinclination to devote themselves to traditional
motherhood. By the 1st century AD, most elite women avoided breast-feeding
their infants themselves, and hired wet-nurses. The practice was not uncommon
as early as the 2nd century BC, when the comic playwright Plautus mentions wet-nurses casually. Since a mother's milk was
considered best for the baby, aristocratic women might still choose to
breast-feed, unless physical reasons prevented it. If a woman chose to forgo
nursing her own child she could visit the Columna Lactaria ("Milk Column"), where
poor parents could obtain milk for their infants as charity from wet nurses,
and those who could afford it could choose to hire a wet nurse.
2.8
Women and Economy
Aristocratic women managed a large
and complex household. Since wealthy couples often owned multiple homes and
country estates with dozens or even hundreds of slaves, some of whom were
educated and highly skilled, for running a small corporation. In addition to
the social and political importance of entertaining guests, clients, and visiting dignitaries from
abroad, the husband held his morning business meetings (salutatio) at
home. The home (domus) was also the center of the family's social identity, with
ancestral portraits displayed in the entrance hall. One of the most important
tasks for women to oversee in a large household was clothing production. At one
time, the spinning of wool was a central domestic occupation, and indicated a
family's self-sufficiency, since the wool would be produced on their estates.
Even in an urban setting, wool was often a symbol of a wife's duties, and
equipment for spinning might appear on the funeral monument of a woman to show
that she was a good and honorable matron. Even women of the upper classes were
expected to be able to spin and weave.
2.9
Women in Trade
The women appear as much engaged in
business and as interested as the men. Money is their first care. They work
their estates, invest their funds, lend and borrow. Roman society did not allow
women to gain official political power; it did allow them to enter business.
Even women of wealth weren't supposed to be idle ladies of leisure. Among the
aristocracy, women as well as men lent money to their peers to avoid resorting
to a moneylender. When Pliny was considering buying an estate, he factored in a
loan from his mother-in-law as a guarantee rather than an option. Women also
joined in funding public works, as is frequently documented by inscriptions
during the Imperial period. Because women had the right to own property, they
might engage in the same business transactions and management practices as any
landowner.
3.
POLITY AND SOCIETY
3.1 Saint Helena
In late Antiquity, Saint Helena was a Christian and the mother of Emperor Constantine I. As such her role in history is of
great significance as her son Constantine legalized Christianity across the
Roman Empire, and became a convert himself - ending centuries of mistreatment
of Christians and altering the course of world history. [1]
3.2Theodora
Through her relationship with her
husband, who seems to have treated her as his intellectual partner, Theodora
had a real effect on the political decisions of the empire. Justinian writes,
for instance, that he consulted Theodora when he promulgated a constitution
which included reforms meant to end corruption by public officials. She is
credited with influencing many other reforms, including some which expanded the
rights of women in divorce and property ownership, forbid exposure of unwanted
infants, gave mothers some guardianship rights over their children, and forbid
the killing of a wife who committed adultery. She closed brothels and created
convents where the ex-prostitutes could support themselves. [2]
3.3Zoe
Another
important woman in the imperial period was Empress Zoe. She was a daughter of
Constantine VIII. Constitutionally, she did not bear the any works of
rulership. But in reality, it was she who played a very crucial role in the
affairs of her three husbands. In later years, she left family and lived in
monastery with other nuns.
4. Theology Philosophy and Literature
St. Augustine of Hippo as a great
theologian. But in reality, it was his mother Saint Monica, a pious Christian who played a vital role in the life of
St. Augustine. It says that it was because of his mother Augustine was
converted into Christianity and became one of the most influential Christian
Theologians of all history.[3]
4.2.
Paula and Eustochium
Saint Paula (347–404) was an ancient Roman saint and
early Desert Mother. A member of one
of the richest senatorialfamilies which
claimed descent from Agamemnon, Paula was the daughter of Blesilla and
Rogatus, from the great clan of Furii Camilli. Paula was married to Toxotius, and had
four daughters, Blaesilla, Paulina, Eustochium, and Rufina,and a
boy, named Toxotius. She renounced all the riches and
led an ascetic life. She had a good relationship with Jerome, significant scholar-teacher from
the early centuries of Christianity. His special interest was in sharing
scholarly study of the Bible with an erudite group of
Christian women in Rome. Led by an aristocratic widow
named Paula and later by her daughter Eustochium, the group
explored all kinds of interpretations of biblical passages -- exegetical,
linguistic, allegorical, and spiritual. Their commitment to chastity
linked them with the ideals of nuns, although they did not form an order.
Eventually a number of them settled in a convent in Bethlehem, where they
continued to study the Bible under Jerome's guidance. [4]
4.3.
Hypatia
According to the records of
Maria D Zielska, Hypatia's success created hostility from men.
She was also a pagan living in an empire that had now been converted to
Christianity. In AD 415 a mob of Christians dragged her through the streets of
Alexandria before torturing her to death. In Roman society the concept of women
in power was not supported by a belief system. Within a strict patriarchal
society, sex and gender roles were rigidly demarcated and women who stepped
beyond these boundaries caused discomfort, which was deflected by personal
attacks on their morality. [5]
4.4.Anna
Comnena
The next famous Byzantine woman was
Anna Comnena. She was the daughter of an emperor, and received an
excellent education, which was the general custom for princesses in the
Byzantine Empire. Her studies included the Greek Classics, history,
geography, mythology and philosophy. She was married to Icephorus
Bryennius, the son of a former pretender the Imperial Office. In 1118
Anna joined in a conspiracy to place her husband on the throne. Failure
resulted, but Anna retired to a nunnery with her mother Irene, that they had
founded. While Anna was in the convent, she wrote fifteen books for which
she is considered the first female historian in history.[6]
5.
Monastery and Nunnary
According to Jean &
Marrou , St Pachonius[of Monasticism]had founded nine convents
[near Nile river of Egypt]for men and two for women[346 A.D], in history
the first women convent [340 A.D] having been established near
Tabennisi by Mary [ who was sister of Pachomius]. This account
gives us a picture of the Christian society who gave importance for the women
to develop spiritually and educationally, even though, there were negative and
positive consequences in the Monasticism. Other women contributed
to the development of early Christian monasticism, seeking redemption in the
wilderness, as with the hermit Saint Mary of Egypt (c.AD 344-421) who is
venerated in Western, Eastern, Oriental and African Christianity, for entering
a life of penitence and prayer in the deserts beyond the Jordan River.
6.
Music
From the records of traditional
historiographies, we can know about the role of women in liturgical music
during the early centuries of the Empire. Those female musicians were referred
to by the Church Fathers as prostitutes. Manuscript sources of liturgical music
have survived in great number, but anonymity was so honored in Byzantium that
composers' names were often omitted, especially in early sources. In Byzantium
the women composers' names that have survived were associated exclusively with
liturgical chant. These women were all literate and of middle- to upper-class
social status.
Of these women whose names are
documented in sources as composers of Byzantine chant, only the music of Kassia
and the daughter of Ioannes Kladas is preserved in manuscripts. Since music by
only these two of the women hymnographies survives. The surviving information
concerning the female composers is easily summarized. Martha was the mother of
Symeon the Stylite, a Byzantine saint. She lived toward the end of the ninth
century and was the abbess of a nunnery at Argos. It is assumed that most of
her musical works were composed for the nuns of her convent.[7]
Theodosia, a devout abbess of a
convent near the Imperial city of Constantinople is known for her composition
of Kanons, a poetical form comprising nine odes and found in the Byzantine
Morning Office known as Orthros. Another ninth-century composer is Thekla, who
was also probably an abbess of a convent near Constantinople. Thekla has been
described as a self-confident woman, proud not only of herself, but also of her
sex. Her only surviving hymn is a Kanon in honor of the Theotokos (the
Byzantine attribution for the Virgin Mary). Thekla shows her feminist
traits by praising female martyrs, saints, and consecrated virgins of the
Eastern Orthodox Church.
A later Byzantine woman musician is
Kouvouklisena, whose manuscript was found in the largest monastery of Mount
Athos. More importantly, it identifies her as a chantress and leader of a
woman's choir. A later Byzantine woman hymnographer that might have lived in
the fifteenth century is identified as Palaeologina. This hymnographer was
obviously a well-educated, aristocratic woman from the Imperial family and
dynasty Palaeologus that ruled from 1259 to 1453. Palaeologina is thought to
have been a nun in one of the convents of Constantinople. It was for the
convent that she composed Kanons, for which only the texts have survived.
Over fifty liturgical chants are
attributed to Kassia. As a gifted poet, Kassia wrote 261 secular verses in the
forms of epigrams, gnomic verses, and moral sentences. Kassia is the only woman
pictured in the frontispiece of a Triodion, a Lenten liturgical service book,
printed in Venice in 1601, which also included pictures of the Byzantine
churches leading hymnographies.
Kassia, along with other
women, clergy, and monks, fought against the imperial edict abolishing the use
of icons in churches. Because of her actions, Kassia was persecuted Kassia also
sent to Theodore examples of her writings, to which he responded with
compliments on her literary skills. [8]
7.
Reflection
Status and role of women during
Imperial period is debatable. Many of the traditional historiographers
projected them as lower and weaker sections of the society. They projected that
it was only the men had capacity to play a key role in the society, polity,
Church or religion, philosophy and in the field of literature. Besides,
constitution of Roman Empire also did not guarantee for women to play a vital
role especially in the polity. We knew that every country or the nation is abided
by the rules and regulations provided by the constitution of a country or a
kingdom. Any person goes beyond the constitution can be punished by the law of
the constitution. Similarly the women during the imperial period also could not
cross the boundary of the Roman Constitution.
If we study the constitution of India, we’ll
understand that President is the head of the State. But in reality it is the
Prime minister and his council of ministers that look after all the affairs of
the State. He is only the titular head of the State. Similarly, though the
women of the imperial period were not bound to take part in the affairs of the
empire, in reality most of the women or wives played a very crucial role in the
affairs of the Roman Empire. Some of the political experts say that Dr. Manmohan
Singh is the Dejur Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi is the Defacto Prime
Minister. If it is true, then Sonia Gandhi is the person who is playing a
key role in the Office of the Prime Minister. Same thing can be seen in
the case of women during the Imperial period of Rome. Constitutionally, the men
or the Emperors were the rulers of the people or the Empire. But in many cases
some of the women mentioned above played a vital role in the affairs of the
kingdom.
Another remarkable thing about the
women during that period was the skillful women musicians. Those gifted women
were projected as prostitutes by traditional historiographies also debatable.
Of course we cannot deny that there were no prostitutes in those periods. The
practice of prostitution is found in almost every religion and every period of
time. But on the other hand, we should also ask whether all the Church fathers
or the male members in the Church were holy. If all the male members of the
Church or the institutions were holy, then how women alone can be prostitutes?
According to Alfred Marshall quoted by Thomas
K Swift, both the blades of a scissor are equally important to cut a
piece of cloth. In the same manner, we can think that if there were women
prostitutes in the temple or in some religious institutions, definitely there
will be religious leaders or the men would be involving in that situation.
By implications of all the
discussions above, we may say that there were discriminations, gender
inequalities, problems, difficulties and challenges in front of women in the
imperial period of Rome. But they never bent down and stop their thirst to
serve for the society. They knew that it was not easy to come to the front page
of the public affairs. They also knew that Roman constitution did not guarantee
the equal rights to women. But they stood for the truth and sacrificed their
lives. In the midst of difficulties and challenges their contributions are seen
in the field of polity, society, religion, philosophy, music, education and so
on.
Some feminist historians view that
the traditional hagiography is a symbolic form of literary discourse for which
the question of historicity matters only in relation to the story’s meaning;
and also hagiography even when written about women is often written by men.
During the early Byzantine Empire in particular hagiography is almost
exclusively the product of male writers. Therefore, we can think that if
those events were in the hands of women writers more and more courageous and
great women figures would come up.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we may say that the
so called traditional historiographers projected the role and status of women
during the Roman imperial period as low status. They were treated less than
human beings. Besides, according to feminist writers, the events which were
recorded about women also written by male writers. In such cases, there are
chances to be hidden something in somewhere. In spite of women, men
are strong and powerful, cultural practices and gender inequality made them to hide
in somewhere. But those inhumanely acts of men and male writers could not
totally cover all the works and contributions of women. By dint of wisely
decision, they (women) could play a vital role amidst all the difficulties and
problems. If the hidden qualities and contributions of women can be brought
into this world, history would be adorned with jewels of equality.
Therefore, the new approach to history is on demand. It also reminded us that
more women writers should come up. We should also open the way so that more
women writers would come up.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Foster, John. The first Advance, New Delhi, ISPCK, 1965.
WEBLIOGRAPHY
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[1] Accessed fromhttp://bluwinchisik.blogspot.in/2012/09/status-of-women-during-roman-imperial.html”
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[2] Accessed fromhttp://bluwinchisik.blogspot.in/2012/09/status-of-women-during-roman-imperial.html”
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[3] Accessed fromhttp://bluwinchisik.blogspot.in/2012/09/status-of-women-during-roman-imperial.html”
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[4] John Foster, The first advance
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[5] Accessed fromhttp://bluwinchisik.blogspot.in/2012/09/status-of-women-during-roman-imperial.html”
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[6] Accessed fromhttp://bluwinchisik.blogspot.in/2012/09/status-of-women-during-roman-imperial.html”
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[7] Accessed fromhttp://bluwinchisik.blogspot.in/2012/09/status-of-women-during-roman-imperial.html”
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[8] Accessed fromhttp://bluwinchisik.blogspot.in/2012/09/status-of-women-during-roman-imperial.html”
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