Historically women in Rome

Historically women in Rome were never given the opportunity to speak their minds. All of the historical documents that are used to portray roman life where created by men. ...through the erotic and satirical poetry of the late Republic and early Empire, all written by men; through the historians and biographers, all men most of them unable to resist the salacious and the scandalous; through the letter writers and philosophers, all men; through painting and sculpture, chiefly portrait of statues, inscribed tombstones, and religious monuments of all kinds; and through innumerable legal texts. Men expected women, to stay at home, to take care of their children and husbands. A women who did so, was considered the ideal wife. In Ancient Greece women were viewed by society in very similar ways as in Rome. The only thing a freeborn Athenian woman could call her own was her reputation, which depended on good behavior. Her father would marry her at age fourteen or fifteen. Her days were spent dutifully spinning, weaving, dyeing clothes, cooking, bearing and raising children, and, above all, on not interfering in the serious business of life as conducted by the men. A woman was expected to stay home and keep quiet. Nor could women testify in a court of law. She could not go out shopping, ...for respectable married women did not go out shopping in fifth-century Athens. That job was left for the men and slaves. One of the few times an Athenian woman could go out was to the Thesmophoria festival. ...one of several festivals celebrated in honor of feminine deities. During these festivals a woman could leave the seclusion of her own house without arousing suspicious comment. Many men saw the Thesm! as excessive drinking sprees. In early Rome, women didnt even get individual names. They were given family names with a feminine ending. Sisters often shared names and were distinguished by &...