Young women

What did Athenians often do to their children ? (Athens)

They exposed them so left the child to die on a hill

Who was more likely to be exposed and why ? (Athens)

Girls as they were a greater financial burden

Why wasn’t it morally wrong for them to expose their children ? (Athens)

It was seen as the babies life being left in the hands of the gods

What happens if the girls hasn’t been exposed in the first 10 days ? (Athens)

She becomes under the kyrios’ control

Were girls educated ? (Athens)

• No most could not read or write except the rich

• some rich girls would be taught to dance and sig or play a musical instrument

Why were girls not educated ? (Athens)

Men saw educated women as dangerous

What did their mothers teach them ? (Athens)

• how to be a good kyria

• weaving

• cooking

• Learnt athenian morals to pass onto their own children

When would you get married ? (Athens)

As soon as puberty started and the husband would be much older

What were you expected to be when you married ? (Athens)

A virgin and the man expirenced

How was the husband chosen ? (Athens)

By the kyrios used to move up in society

What was a dowry ? (Athens)

The money paid by the father to the husbands family meant to pay for the burden of taking on another woman

Also an incentive not to get divorced as you would have to pay it back

What was the engue ? (Athens)

The betrothal and it could take place years before the actual marriage

It would be a ceremony in front of witnesses where the kyrios and husband shake hands

from this they are legally married

What happens during the proaulia ? (Athens)

Day 1

• bride spends a last meal with female relatives at home

• makes offerings to artemis

• Thanks her for protection during childhood and asks for luck as an adult

• may also make offerings to hera and aphrodite

What are the offerings given to artemis during the proaulia ? (Athens)

A lock of hair and old toys

What happens during the gamos ? (Athens)

• bride has a ceremonial bath to purify her and improve her fertility

• dressed in fine clothes and a veil

• kyrios hosts a feast for both families

• at nightfall a torch lit procession to the grooms house

• groom drags the bride away into a cart away from her mother

• torches lit to keep evil spirits away

• women throw fruit and flowers

• grooms mother greets them at home carrying a torch

• bride is taken to the hearth and the carts axle is broken

• couple go to the bedroom

What happens all night of the gamos ? (Athens)

Guests sing songs and bang on the door all night to keep away evil spirits

WHat happens at the auralia ? (Athens)

• Female attendants and male relatives stay outside till morning

• carry on singing songs

• give gifts to help the bride in her new life e.g clothes perfume jewellery

Who decided if a child would be exposed ? (Sparta)

Elders

What did school focus on ? (Sparta)

Sports and strength, no academics even with boys

They did competitions exercise and swam with the boys

What did you have to do in order to get married ? (Sparta)

Pass a fitness test at 18

At what age did girls and boys marry and why ? (Sparta)

girls 18 - 20 so they are stronger for childbirth

boys 25 but lived in the barracks till 31

Were you legally required to marry ? (Sparta)

Yes

What was the main focus of a marriage ? (Sparta)

To have kids there were no dowries so no financial aspect

What happened on a wedding night ? (Sparta)

• bride shaves her head and puts on men s clothes and hides in the dark on her bedroom floor

• groom has a normal dinner at the syssiton

• He sneaks out without being caught

• he captures the bride and takes her to bed to consummate then returns to barracks to sleep

• The sneaking out would continue too 31

What did a married women look like ? (Sparta)

short hair with a veil ( not focused on appearance )

What did the midwife do after the birth ? (Rome)

Placed the baby at the feet of her fathers

What did the father do with the child ? (Rome)

If she was accepted he lifted he in the air

if she wasn’t lifted she would be exposed

If a girl was accepted who would they leave a couch out for ?

Juno

What happens after the 8th day after the birth ? (Rome)

• naming ceremony

• have a party

• give offerings

• baby receives a bulla

How are girls named ? (Rome)

She got the female version of her father’s family name

What did mothers teach their daughters ?

• domestic skill for being a wife and mothers

• pass down roman morals and values

• weaving

• cooking

• managing house and slaves

Who taught girls ?

A litterator

What did girls learn ?

basic reading writing and maths

Where there schools ? (Rome)

Yes co-ed primary schools until puberty

What was the life of a rich girl like ? (Rome)

• some cared for more by slaves than mums

• often used wet nurses to breastfeed

• slave sent with girl to school

What were good skills for a rich wife ? (Rome)

• be good at dinner parties

• recite poetry

• sing or play music

Who was Maesia and what was her nickname ? (Rome)

A woman who defended herself in the law courts but was nicknamed Androgyne

What was the normal age for marriage ? (Rome)

men - 20

women - 12-14

Who chose who married who ? (Rome)

• the paterfamilias chose daughters groom

• both bride and groom had to consent t marriage

• girls could only object it man was a bad person

What was sponsalia ? (Rome)

It was a official betrothal ceremony

• groom gives gifts to girl ( a ring ) girl gives 3 coins to symbolise dowery

Who oversees the sponsalia ? (Rome)

A pronuba joins their hands

What is a cum manu marriage ? (Rome)

Husband is in control of the wife, she becomes part of the husbands family and inherits husbands property

Any children belong to both man and woman

What is a sine manu marriage ? (Rome)

Bride stays in legal control of her paterfamillias

Most common form of marriage = better for the brides family as she still inherits from her father and no dowry required

What are the 3 types of marriage ?(Rome)

Usus , coemptio , confarreatio

What happens in a coemptio marriage ? (Rome)

• Cum manu

• woman is ceremonially sold to husband by paterfamilias

• needs 5 witnesses and a man holding a set of scales

• paterfamilias gave one coin and put it on the scale

What does the bride say in a coemptio marriage ?(Rome)

Ubi tu gaius ego gaia

where you are gaius i am gaia

What happens in a confarreatio marriage ? (Rome)

• cum manu

• oldest type of marriage

• only used by the patricians

• honours Jupiter

• At least 10 witnesses including the pontifex maximus

• ceremony lead by pronuba

• couple offered a ceremonial wheat cake

• shared cake and recited verses

  • very difficult to divorce from

What is a Usus marriage like ? (Rome)

• sine manu

• does not involve a formal ceremony

• they just said they wanted to marry and moved inn together

• most common form of marriage

• children only belong to fathers family

• would change into a cum manu if the woman stayed at her husbands house for a year without a night away

What does the wedding look like ? (Rome)

• day before the bride makes sacrifices to the lares

• offers her bulla and childhood toys

• morning of the wedding

  • puts on wedding dress with a knotted wool belt - only the groom is allowed to unknot the belt

• wears a flame coloured veil and wears hair in 6 seperate locks and both bride and groom wear flower crowns

• Afterwards a big feast and procession to grooms house

• groom grabs the bride from her mother

• guests accompany the couple singing wedding songs and carrying spindles

• groom throws nuts and fruit to the crowd

• bride carry 3 coins

• groom carries bride over the threshold

• wife lights hearth using a wedding torch

For a cum manu marriage where is the wedding held ? (Rome)

Brides fathers house

Who are the 3 coins the bride has for ? (Rome)

1 for her husband

1 for janus god of transition

1 hor husbands lares

What does the bride do at the grooms house ? (Rome)

Wraps wool around the door posts to symbolise her domestic role