More about women in antiquity

Women of aristocratic ruling families were visible and influential in the behind the scenes political maneuvering. The Roman historian Livy (59 BC-17 AD) expressed dismay and disgust at the behavior of the Roman women who had dared to express opinion about a political matter that had lobbied for support: “If each of us men, fellow citizens, had undertaken to keep the right and the authority of the husband out of the hands of the women of the family, we would have less trouble with groups of women. But as it is now, at home our freedom is trampled on by feminine rages, and here in the Forum it is crushed and trod underfoot. Because we were unable to control each woman as an individual, we are now frightened by women in groups . . . Our ancestors permitted no woman to conduct even personal business without a guardian . . . they wished them to be under the control of fathers, brothers, and husbands” (A History of Rome 34.2.1). In addition, an intelligent and talented woman had to be careful not to appear cleverer than the men around her. The Roman writer Juvenal (c. 60-127 AD) wrote about what could have irritated Roman men about cultured and educated women: “Really annoying is the woman who, as soon as she takes her place at the dining table, praises Virgil, excuses Dido’s suicide, compares and ranks in critical order the various poets, and weighs Virgil and Homer on a pair of scales . . . Don’t marry a woman who speaks like an orator or knows every history book . . . who always obeys the laws and rules of correct speech, who quotes verses I have never heard of, moldy old stuff that a man shouldn’t worry about anyway. Let her correct the grammar of her ignorant girlfriend! A husband should be allowed an occasional ‘I ain’t’” (Satires 6.434-56).