Women on The Verge of The Roman Empire

Submitted by Bija Knowles on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 15:31

Girl Power in The Early Empire

By the time Rome became an empire in 27 BC, women's standing in society was improving. They were considerably better off than Athenian women, who were confined to their homes and were rarely allowed to socialize with men – not even their husbands.

In ancient Greece it was acceptable only for prostitutes, concubines, female slaves or the extremely poor to be seen in public. Roman women had more in common with their Egyptian sisters; they dined with their husbands, were expected to greet guests to the home and were able to go out in public. While Egypt's queens governed alongside their husbands, Rome never had a female Caesar, nor an empress. But some Roman women did come very close to power and influence through their husbands and sons.

The social status of Roman women was given a boost by the prosperity of the expanding empire. Wealth brought back from newly vanquished lands was quickly percolating through to the aristocratic as well as the lower-class families. Women were now more likely to find themselves with some control over their family's assets – particularly if the paterfamilias was killed in battle. It seemed as though, after centuries of having the legal status of a child, things were finally looking up for Roman women.

The Reins of Augustus

When Augustus became the first Roman emperor, he saw himself very much as the father and the moral guardian of the Roman people. Unfortunately, this meant that he had certain ideas about the role of women in society – Augustus was a moral traditionalist and thought women's increasing independence should be curbed immediately. He passed laws to try and halt the increasing economic power and independence of women, including the following:

Women's attendance of public events was restricted
A man was permitted to kill his wife and her lover if he caught her in the act of adultery in their home, provided that he do it immediately.
A man was also permitted to kill his own daughter if he found her in flagrante with an illicit lover. He could kill the lover as well.
An adulterous woman would be banished, lose half of her dowry, as well as a third of any additional wealth she might possess.
Women who bore three or more children were granted freedom from the authority of their husbands.

These laws, though they tried to promote family values, were largely ineffective. In fact the period following Augustus's ascent to power also gave rise to the most powerful women of the age. However, because contemporary historians were male, the role of women in Roman history has been overlooked, with primary evidence to describe their lives thin on the ground. Even modern historians tend to pay little attention to the influence and power that some of the women of the ruling Julio-Claudian dynasty managed to achieve.

Livia Drusilla: the original Augusta

One of the most powerful women of the era was Livia Drusilla, Augustus's third wife and his life-long companion, confidante and unofficial adviser. She was an intelligent woman with political acumen who outlived her husband and was able to position her own son Tiberius to become the next emperor.

Livia was born into one of the most important families in Rome, the Claudians, who had a long lineage of senators and consuls during the Republic. When she met Octavian in 39 BC (he became known as Augustus in 27 BC), the future emperor apparently fell immediately in love with her.

However, the marriage was also a strategic political move, uniting as it did Octavian's Julian dynasty with Livia's Claudian family. At the time Octavian was married to Scribonia and Livia was pregnant with her second child by husband Tiberius Claudius Nero. Octavian unceremoniously divorced Scribonia on the day that she gave birth to their daughter Julia. Livia's husband was also forced to divorce her. This freed Octavian to then marry Livia. Their marriage was a happy one, lasting 51 years until his death in 14 AD.

Augustus wanted an obedient and dutiful wife – and many accounts says that Livia was all this and more. The imperial first couple were probably a perfect example of the domestic virtue and modesty that Augustus wanted to promote throughout the empire. They lived in a modest house on the Palatine Hill, where Livia ran the home and even made some of her husband's clothes herself ('working in wool', ie, weaving and making clothes and fabrics for the home, was one of the major signs of virtue and devotion in a Roman wife).

But Livia was also much more than a dutiful, self-effacing wife in the shadows. Augustus depended on her for advice and support. She was also an efficient administrator who helped her husband consolidate his political position and build up his power-base and public image. After Augustus's death, Livia was honoured with the title Augusta, which enabled her to maintain her influential public profile.

However, the marriage didn't produce any children. The question of who was to succeed Augustus caused a fraught struggle for pole position. Although Livia's son was not Augustus's first choice, she was able to position him so that he took power in 14 AD. Many historians suggest that Livia schemed to get Tiberius into power, and then continued to use ruthless tactics to keep him there. Germanicus, Tiberius's nephew and Livia's grandson, was a popular commander in the Roman army. When he died in dubious circumstances in Antioch in 19 AD, some suspected that Livia had somehow been involved in the murder of her own grandson.

Livia continued to exert her influence during Tiberius's rule. Some say that he transferred his residence in 26 AD to Villa Jovis on the island of Capri for the final 10 years of his rule to put some distance between himself and his domineering mother. Livia eventually died at the age of 85 in 29 AD. It is telling that after Livia's death, Tiberius began to have problems with the commander of the Praetorian Guard, Sejanus, who planned to overthrow him. Without Livia's strong guidance, Tiberius's rule descended into bloody purges, vengeful executions and social unrest, until his death in 37 AD.

Valeria Messallina: a Life of Depravity

The Julio-Claudian produced several other extraordinary women, each of whom got as close as they possibly could to ruling the empire. Messalina was a direct descendent of Augustus's sister Octavia. At the age of 17, in 37 AD, she married her much older second cousin Claudius. She was delighted when he became emperor, after the murder of Caligula, in 41 AD.

Messallina already had wealth and status when she married Claudius. She abused her privileged position as empress though – not for material gains but to satisfy her insatiable need for men. Several stories surround Claudius's third wife, all depicting a nymphomaniac with hundreds of lovers. Roman poet and satirist Juvenal describes her as the 'whore-empress' and other sources describe orgies, nights spent as a prostitute in a brothel, and even a competition between herself and a prostitute (of course, Messallina won).

In modern times she might have been treated for sex addiction, but as an empress without constraints, Messallina's uncontrolled passion was also her downfall. One day when Claudius was visiting Ostia, she publicly married her lover (a senator, Gaius Silius). Having committed bigamy, some historians surmise that Messallina also wanted to stage a coup and her intention was to instate herself and Silius as new rulers of the empire. Claudius was quick to order her execution – he didn't even speak to her before giving the order in 48 AD.

Next in Line

Claudius swore he would never marry again after the humiliation and misery he suffered during his marriage to the promiscuous Messallina. But within a year of her execution, he was persuaded to do just that – this time to his niece Agrippina, the great-granddaughter of Augustus. Even though Claudius already had an heir (Britannicus) and was probably not in love with his niece Agrippina, the marriage consolidated Claudius's place in the Julio-Claudian dynasty and strengthened his own position as emperor.

Agrippina had certainly inherited some traits from previous female members of the family – at least, she showed impressive amounts of the scheming that was characteristic of Livia. As soon as her marriage to Claudius was official, she lost no time in placing her own son, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, as next in line to be emperor. She started by persuading Claudius to adopt Lucius – the future emperor Nero – as his own son. She then arranged the marriage between Nero and his step-sister Octavia. The rest, as they say, is history. Claudius was served poisoned mushrooms in October 54 AD. Nero inherited the title of emperor and Britannicus was poisoned the following year.

Like her great-grandmother Livia, Agrippina also continued to have a strong hand in her son's rule. History repeated itself to a certain extent, in that the young emperor was almost entirely dependent on his mother for guidance and political survival. Nero had Agrippina murdered in 59 AD and thereafter his rule, like that of Tiberius, deteriorated and Nero earned his reputation as a theatrically-inclined, cruel tyrant.

Girl Power

The women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty played a vital role in keeping their husbands and sons in check, and providing a voice of reason, or at least restraint, to emperors who, without them, quickly made themselves deeply unpopular with the Roman people. While Valeria Messalina seems to have known no restraint at all, she nonetheless achieved a very powerful position, due partially to the perceived weakness of Claudius. However, in the end she was the victim of her own excess. Livia and Agrippina, on the other hand, were far more politically astute and they were able to influence the decisions of their husbands and sons over a period of several decades, no doubt exerting considerable power from behind the scenes.

Image of Livia (middle) and Messallina by Joe Geranio.

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About The Author

Bija Knowles
Bija Knowles is a freelance journalist based outside Rome, Italy. She graduated in Italian and English Literature from the University of Birmingham, UK, and her main areas of interest are art, travel and history in Italy.

Last three pieces by this author: Brittania Superior 'v' Brittania Inferior: the Roman Roots of Britain's North-South Divide, The Ara Pacis As You've Never Seen it Before, Caravaggio: Gay Icon Born Too Late?

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