Between the end of the Republican age and the beginning of the Imperial one, women, at least aristocratic women, played an ever increasing role within the Roman family and society at large. That was mainly a consequence of political events, because husbands were often outside Rome either because they had been banished or proscribed. In these circumstances, their wives had to make a choice: they could remain faithful to their husbands or, on the contrary, break their marriages and create new ones. Terentia, the celebrated wife in the Laudatio Turiae, Tanusia and the wife of Ovid chose to remain faithful to their men and to support them in several ways. Above all, these four wives tried to save their husbands by speaking to powerful men; whereas a Roman wife would have usually been blamed if she had talked to someone outside her home, these women were celebrated because they worked in favour of their husbands, who recognized their importance for the well-being of their families. However, at the beginning of the Empire, only few men, like the philosopher Musonius, began to reflect on the fundamental contribution not only of the wives but of both husbands and wives to construct a family life based on harmony and concordia and to prevent marriage breakdowns.
Tra la fine della Repubblica e gli inizi dell'Impero le donne, almeno quelle appartenenti all'aristocrazia, giocarono un ruolo sempre maggiore nella famiglia e nella società romana. Ciò fu essenzialmente una conseguenza degli eventi politici, poiché i mariti si trovavano spesso fuori Roma in qualità di esiliati o proscritti. In queste circostanze, le donne dovettero scegliere: potevano rimanere fedeli ai propri mariti o, al contrario, rompere le loro unioni per contrarne di nuove. Terenzia, la donna celebrata nella Laudatio Turiae, Tanusia e la moglie di Ovidio scelsero di rimanere fedeli ai propri sposi e di aiutarli in diversi modi. In particolare, queste quattro donne cercarono di salvare i mariti parlando con uomini potenti; mentre normalmente a Roma una donna sarebbe stata biasimata se avesse parlato con persone esterne alla propria casa, queste donne furono lodate perché si adoperarono in favore dei propri mariti, che ne riconobbero l'importanza per il benessere delle loro famiglie. Tuttavia, agli inizi dell'Impero, solo pochi uomini, come il filosofo Musonio, cominciarono a riflettere sul fondamentale contributo non solo delle donne ma di uomini e donne per costruire una vita di famiglia basata sull'armonia e la concordia e per prevenire la rottura dei matrimoni.
'Speculatrix et propugnatrix meorum periculorum'. Essere moglie a Roma in un’epoca di trasformazioni (I sec. a.C.-I sec. d.C.)
SORACI, CRISTINA
2013-01-01
Abstract
Between the end of the Republican age and the beginning of the Imperial one, women, at least aristocratic women, played an ever increasing role within the Roman family and society at large. That was mainly a consequence of political events, because husbands were often outside Rome either because they had been banished or proscribed. In these circumstances, their wives had to make a choice: they could remain faithful to their husbands or, on the contrary, break their marriages and create new ones. Terentia, the celebrated wife in the Laudatio Turiae, Tanusia and the wife of Ovid chose to remain faithful to their men and to support them in several ways. Above all, these four wives tried to save their husbands by speaking to powerful men; whereas a Roman wife would have usually been blamed if she had talked to someone outside her home, these women were celebrated because they worked in favour of their husbands, who recognized their importance for the well-being of their families. However, at the beginning of the Empire, only few men, like the philosopher Musonius, began to reflect on the fundamental contribution not only of the wives but of both husbands and wives to construct a family life based on harmony and concordia and to prevent marriage breakdowns.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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