Patria Potestas

Friday, September 4, 2009

Rome viewed women as property. The infamous “Patria potestas” gave Roman men the right of life and death over their wives (and children, and slaves). Women could not enter contracts, own property, or even travel alone. The only exception were the infamous Vestal Virgins, to whom the rules did not apply (they were even, apparently, allowed to vote).

Regardless of cable television soap operas to the contrary, the Romans had a very restrictive view of female sexuality. The good Roman wife sat at home, was careful to accede to her husband’s demands, but never was seen in public without him, and then only as adornment.

Roman men tended to find their lascivious companions in young slave boys. The usual tales of orgies of feasting, drinking and debauchery were generally not ascribed to the women, and they were rarely included.

There was, of course, a class of prostitutes, who were required to dye their hair blue or yellow, so they could be easily recognized as such. I suppose it made negotiations easier.

The upper class women in the royal circle, apparently, did not get that memo. From the time of Augustus on, the Emperor’s families contained a fair share of women who used their noble birth and rank to abuse the position. Many affairs were associated with many shifts in the political climate. Messalina, one of Claudius’ four wives, was supposed to prefer brothels to the palace, donning a yellow wig to fit in. She eventually went a little too far, publicly marrying Claudius’ political rival (without bothering to divorce Claudius first), and was summarily executed.

Roman obstetrics and gynecology was essentially similar to that of Greece, at least until the time of Soranus, the great obstetrician of antiquity. The three bladed speculum was well known, and in fact examples were unearthed at Pompeii.

The deities of childbirth varied with the era. Juno, wife of Jupiter, was often considered the goddess of childbirth, but maternity was also given over to Vesta, the virginal keeper of the hearth. Even Diana, to whom Jupiter granted perpetual virginity (despite the fact that she took lovers—one cannot always explain mythology), had a role in the matter.

The Caesarian section was common and in fact, was the law. Numa Pompilius decreed that the child was to be cut out of a dead woman’s abdomen sometime in the 7^th century BCE. This became part of the Lex Caesare under the emperors, hence the name. Apparently, being born in this manner was considered auspicious, and several emperors and military heros were, in fact, born by Caesarian from their dead mothers. Julius Caesar, whose mother lived long enough to pull strings behind the scenes in his illustrious political career, was not one of them.

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Tags: caesarian, history, humor, law, motherhood, obstetrics, Parenting, Rome, women

119 Comments

Stephanie Barr

Friday, 4th September 2009 at 4:40 pm

To be clear, was the Caesarian required for ALL births or just those where the mother died (because it would otherwise seem to PRECLUDE not dying in childbirth)?

I've struggled for years with the double standard still prevalent today, that a prostitute is a horrible creature and the one who uses said prostitute is a finer being. (I'm not touching pederasty because I just ate – no wonder Romans grew up violent and twisted.)

Why can't we all be equally free or, at least, equally repressed?

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Patria Potestas

119 Comments