From time immemorial, the woman has always been viewed as second place to man. She exists to supplement the efforts of the man, being a companion and a homemaker with minimal impact of her own on the society. The ancient world was critical in reshaping the woman to play second fiddle to the man, and the Roman World was no different in their placing of women. Women were supposed to be homemakers and a jewel to the homestead, and not public figures that had a massive contribution to the economic, social, and political impact at the said time. It is interesting, however, to observe that not all Romans held women in the same regard. The Roman woman was looked at as a threshold of the community in the sense that they kept the homestead together with love instilling morals to the children, but they also to a great extent made a tremendous impact on the society in such matters as architecture, spiritual leadership, and art.
The Priestess Eumachia is perhaps the most influential of the Roman women known today, having built, dedicated, and given the Eumachia building to the society as a place of worship. It is interesting to observe that this building was built in the first century AD using the designs of the Porticus Livia in Rome. It is remarkable that at the time in which the society hardly allowed the woman to excel outside the home, the public priestess, in her name and that of her son, Murcus Numistrius made the crypta, the chalcidicum and the Porticus using her own finances before dedicating them to the city (Dunn, 2019). As a woman, Eumachia had a lot of influence on the subsequent generation of women having established herself as a woman of great substance who could make such an impact on society.
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However, giving women like the priestess Eumachia equal rights and freedoms played a significant role in creating the stereotypical controlling and manipulative woman, as the Satire VI observes. The Roman woman abused her position in the homestead and the society when she was given room to express herself independently. As the satire points out, "To a fond spouse, a wife no mercy shows," it was critical that the men establish some authority over the women who abused their rights in the society and used their influence to exercise excessive authority (Halsall, 1998). While women like Eumachia used their influence for the good of society, other women used their power to spread hate and violence between friends and families. Nevertheless, Svlpiciae Elegidia does not agree with the satire poem that all women used their influence for the wrong reasons. This article considers how Roman female poets used their voices and power for the good of the society that is, entertaining and educating the public (Pearcy, 2019). Consider Sulpicia, the niece of Valerius Messalla Corvinus, who represented the aristocratic female voice in the first century. In one of her poems, Sulpicia writes about the power of love in uniting people in marriages.
In conclusion, it is interesting to observe that the ancient Roman women were in every sense like modern day women. They were given the same avenues to make positive contributions to society, and some chose to use the opportunity wisely while the rest decided to abuse their privileges. It is interesting to observe, however, that ladies from noble families had a more positive influence on society than the women from humble backgrounds, which creates room for the following assumption. Nobility was more advantaged in advancing civilization and the Roman women who had received proper education and exposure that came with nobility were more focused on playing a part to develop the society for the future generations than the primitive women who were not concerned with investing for the future.
References
Dunn, B. (2019). Building of Eumachia . Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/ad79eruption/pompeii/public-buildings/building-of-eumachia
Halsall, P. (1998). The Women of Rome . Retrieved from https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/juvenal6.asp
Pearcy, L. (2019). The Love Poems of Sulpicia . Retrieved from http://www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/sulpicia-anth.shtml
