Ancient and Classical Rome - Women

Bona Dea was a Roman goddess only for women, whose main temple festival was held on May 1.

Lucretia biography - profile of legendary Roman matron Lucretia whose rape is said to have triggered the Roman revolution.

Empress of Byzantium 527-548, she was an actress before she caught the attention of Justinian, heir to Emperor Justin. The law had to be changed to permit him to marry an actress, and she went on to become one of the empire's most powerful women.

This is an etext version of: Ferrero, Guglielmo. "Women and Marriage in Ancient Rome." The Women of the Caesars. The Century Co.; New York, 1911. This edition was created by Jone Johnson Lewis, 2003.

This 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica entry describes then-current understanding of laws relating to women, including divorce and marriage law, in classical Rome.

Warrior Queen Zenobia of Palmyra in Syria challenged Rome, though she was eventually defeated.

Find out what women in the ancient world were wearing, in this feature by About.com's Guide to Ancient History, N.S. Gill.

Judith Evans Grubb addresses this question in Women and the Law in the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook on Marriage, Divorce and Widowhood. From N. S. Gill, About.com Guide to Ancient/Classical History.

Pompey the Great had five wives. These are their names and the conditions of the marriages and divorces.

Writing of St. Cyprian of Antioch or her own poetry, this Christian Greek woman wrote during the Roman Empire in the fifth century.

Some selections from law codes in the early Roman Republic, along with some study and discussion questions.

A selection of primary sources from the 8th century BCE to the 4th century CE, showing how laws treated women on issues such as marriage.

Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus, with radical ideas like "Women have received from the gods the same ability to reason that men have."

Collection of documents showing the way religion affected women's lives in ancient Greece and Rome.

Dr. Susan Martin uses a funerary epitaph by a mourning husband to explain the status, legal rights, marriage practices and other aspects of women in Rome.