Kevin Harris
February 16, 2013
Compare the Women of Greece and Rome

The Greek Roman was mostly a nuclear family. It usually consisted of a husband, wife, and their children. The family was considered part of an economic unit. Their primary function in life was to make new citizens. The male of the household was the only person to take part in a social life. Most males thought they owned the polis, the town they lived. They controlled the government and everyone in it. Women were permitted to go to festivals or join religious cults, but they weren’t permitted to join in political events or be outside the household without an escort. There were exceptions to this if the family was too poor to have slaves to do the shopping. Women were allowed to own small personal items, but not Harper 2 property. Women’s main purpose was to keep up the household and to have children. Women received no formal education but they may have a tutor when they were young. They were taught how to do the work expected of them when they were young. Women were also permitted to attend festivals of some kind or a funeral. They were also expected to make all the clothes, blankets and other cloth items. Women were usually married between the ages of 14 and 15. Women’s lives were greatly eased if the family had slaves. Then the women’s main duties were to watch the slaves to make sure they did the housework. The slave’s jobs would include making clothes, farming, shopping and any other task that was needed that day. In Greek life there was a strong presentence of homosexuality. This relationship was usually between a young male and an older man. The older male supposedly taught the younger male about the Greek way of life. It is suggested that a common man did not practice homosexuality. The Roman families had some similarities and some differences from the Greeks. The dominant male of the family was the paterfamilias he headed the Roman family and kept legal control of his wife and daughter. Unlike the Greeks this household included the paterfamilias, his wife, his sons, his son’s wife’s, and their children and slaves. The paterfamilias made sure that the religious ceremonies were followed correctly Harper 3 and he ruled over the family. If the paterfamilias died then the oldest male of the