discuss about the gender literacy and culture of the Roman Empire .? answer within 350 words
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Gender Roles in Roman Empire
1.One of the more modern features of Roman society was the widespreadprevalence of the nuclear family. Adult sons did not live with theirfamilies, and it was exceptional for adult brothers to share a commonhousehold. On the other hand, slaves were included in the family.
2.The typical form of marriage was one where the wife did nottransfer to her husband’s authority but retained full rights in theproperty of her father’s family. While the woman’s dowry went to thehusband for the duration of the marriage, the woman remained aprimary heir of her father and became an independent property owneron her father’s death.
3.Marriageswere generally arranged, and there is no doubt that women were oftensubject to domination by their husbands.Whereas males married intheir late twenties or early thirties, women were married off in the lateteens or early twenties, so there was an age gap between husband andwife and this would have encouraged a certain inequality.
4.Divorce was relatively easy andneeded no more than a notice of intent to dissolve the marriage byeither husband or wife. On the other hand,Augustine, the great Catholicbishop, tells us that hismother was regularly beaten by his father and that most other wivesin the small town where he grew up had similar bruises to show!
5. Finally, fathers had substantial legal control over their children –sometimes to a shocking degree, for example, a legal power of life anddeath in exposing unwanted children, by leaving them out in the coldto die.
Literacy in Roman Empire
1.It is certain that rates of casual literacy variedgreatly between different parts of the empire. For example, in Pompeii,which was buried in a volcanic eruption in 79 CE, there is strong evidenceof widespread casual literacy.
2. Walls on the main streets of Pompeiioften carried advertisements, and graffiti were found all over the city.
3. By contrast, in Egypt where hundreds of papyri survive, most formaldocuments such as contracts were usually written by professionalscribes, and they often tell us that X or Y is unable to read and write.
4.But even here literacy was certainly more widespread among certaincategories such as soldiers, army officers and estate managers.
5.Plurality of languages that were spoken in Roman Empire. They were Aramaic, Coptic,Punic, Berber and Celtic. Butmany of these linguistic cultures were purely oral, atleast until a script was invented for them. Among the above mentioned languages Armenianbegan to be written as late as the fifth century.
Economic Expansion in Roman Empire
1. The empire had a substantial economic infrastructure of harbours,mines, quarries, brickyards, olive oil factories, etc. Wheat, wine andolive-oil were traded and consumed in huge quantities, and they camemainly from Spain, the Gallic provinces, North Africa, Egypt and, to alesser extent, Italy, where conditions were best for these crops.
2. Liquidslike wine and olive oil were transported in containers called ‘amphorae’.The fragments and sherds of a very large number of these surviveand it has been possible for archaeologists toreconstruct the precise shapes of these containers.Spanish producerssucceeded in capturingmarkets for olive oil from theirItalian counterparts. Thiswould only have happened ifSpanish producers supplied better quality oil at lowerprices.
3. The empire included many regions that had a reputation forexceptional fertility. Italy, Sicily, Egypt and southern Spain were all among the most densely settledor wealthiest parts of the empire. The best kinds of wine, wheat and olive oil came mainly fromnumerous estates of these territories.
4.On the other hand, large Roman territories were in amuch less advanced state. The pastoral andsemi-nomadic communities were often on the move, carrying theiroven-shaped huts with them. As Roman estatesexpanded in North Africa, the pastures of those communities weredrastically reduced and their movements more tightly regulated.
5.Diversified applications of waterpower around the Mediterranean as well as advances in water-poweredmilling technology, the use of hydraulic mining techniques in theSpanish gold and silver mines and the gigantic industrial scale onwhich those mines were worked.The existence of well-organizedcommercial and banking networks and the widespread use of moneyare all indications of Roman economy.
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