"Aemilia arrived home from the baths, feeling fully refreshed. Passing by her husband's tablinum, or study, she heard him conversing with another inside. She peered through the open window.
"He sat at his table, scrolls of papyrus spread out before him. In one hand, he held a pen. Across from him sat a younger man: Julius, his assistant. They were discussing some sort of political matters, Aemilia knew, but she could not catch exactly what.
"For a moment, she watched her husband, a smile on her face. It had been seven years to the month that they had exchanged wedding vows. She had been the ripe age of fourteen then, her husband her senior by nearly nine years.
"A child's voice rang out from the top floor. Aemilia looked up for a moment, smiling, and sighed. They had had three children since the beginning of their marriage. Claudia Major, the oldest, was six now, and already beginning her lessons as a young woman. Claudia Minor, the younger daughter, sat in as well, but at the age of four, she did not pay much attention. The youngest of the three, Marcus, was the only boy, and though he was only two years old he had begun private lessons with a tutor. That would not be the last of them, Aemilia knew. She was only twenty-one years old, had yet to lose a child, and Valerius was wishing for another son and heir.
"Another shout came from the top floor. Aemilia shook her head, a smile still on her face, and gave her husband one last look before ascending the stairs to the second floor."
Sarcophagus. Marble. 2nd c AD. British Museum. Photo: B. McManus, VRoma Project. Courtesy of travelswithnancy.com.
This statue depicts a wedding ceremony in Imperial Rome. The bride is clothed in traditional wedding garb, wearing a veil (which would have been orange, as well as her shoes) and a white tunic known as a tunica recta.
Though Roman marriage ceremonies were not unlike weddings today, there are some key differences. Marriage was seen more as an arrangement between two families rather than an expression of love, and wealthy unmarried women would have been sought after by many suitors, typically older and upper class themselves, hoping to further their status. Political marriages were common among the upper-class; politicians who wished to have an "in" with a senator or other leader would often try to marry into that family.
In the Imperial Period, marriage and offspring were important, Emperor Augustus even going so far as to enact a law outlining an encouragement of both, called ex Julia de maritandis ordinibus. This especially affected the upper-class, due to the emperor's desire to "better" Rome as a whole by asking the wealthy and powerful to produce more offspring. In fact, as an effort to make childbirth more appealing to the women of Rome, the state gave legal independence to women who had three (living) children, or four for freedwomen.
This was a major difference from the more restrictive marriage laws of the Republic. Whereas then women were considered meek and the property of men, women now had many more rights and power overall. Women no longer had to feel "trapped"; instead, divorce was accessible for either partner in the marriage. Women also had the ability to control property, which made divorce a better option, as they would not lose their livelihood as well as their husband.
As important as childbirth was, it was no safer than it had been for hundreds of years. A good deal of children died very young, especially during childbirth.
Those who survived, however, were not necessarily safe. It was tradition to give the decision of whether or not the family would keep the child to the paterfamilias. Babies would be placed on the ground in front of the father; if he picked up the baby, it was accepted into the family; if not, it was left to die of exposure. Unfortunately, the mothers had no say in this matter. But with the laws of the state for large families from the upper-class, it is likely that those children were allowed to stay. In that case, the daughters were raised by the mother, who taught them the skills necessary to be a materfamilias themselves, as well as preparing them for marriage. The boys were taught by a tutor.
SOURCES:
http://www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/wlgr/wlgr-romanlegal120.shtmlhttp://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/weddings.html
http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/family.html
Ancient Rome: a new history by David Potter, page 23
http://travelswithnancy.com/women-ancient-rome/motherhood.htm
Usborne Internet-Linked Romans by Anthony Marks and Graham Tingay, page 34
http://carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/ROME/writ.html
http://travelswithnancy.com/women-ancient-rome/law-&-identity.htm
http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/rawson.html
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