The female transition to adulthood in the early Roman Empire.

Studies of female adolescence, whether in historical or modern societies, recognize that the relative timing of physical maturation, sexual initiation, and marriage has far-reaching consequences for the individual, the family, and society. Evidence from the early Roman Empire suggests that women of the upper social ranks married in their early to mid teens, several years earlier than the rest of the female population. Scholars have rarely asked why this was so, but a study of the sources addressing elite girls' movement into marriage and childbearing can allow the social pressures pushing down the marriage age to be examined. The dissertation begins by surveying medical treatises on female puberty, showing that some Roman physicians advocated a later marriage age based on the health risks of early pregnancy. Subsequent chapters place the physicians' writings in a larger context, illuminating the familial and social forces that may have prevented their prescriptions from being put into practice. The Roman law of marriage, for example, set a low minimum marriage age, twelve, and only vaguely addressed a girl's consent to the union, conceding to a father's traditional power over his daughter's marriage arrangements and promoting the state's interest in marriage. The law's perception of girls as resources to be deployed by families is further revealed in the protection of unmarried girls' virginity; the desirability of sexual purity may also have pushed down the marriage age. Examination of the dowry builds on this picture, showing that financial pressures encouraged families to place young daughters in marriage. Offering a glimpse into a girl's experience are literary accounts which portray the wedding and the trauma of sexual initiation, suggesting a psychological down side to marriage at a tender age. Finally, several legal cases indicate that some girls under twelve resided with fiances, raising questions about when children were held to adult expectations and rules. The range of viewpoints represented in the sources suggest that the pattern of early marriage was not an inevitability. It was determined by the interplay of factors, including paternal authority in the family, state promotion of marriage, economic pressures, and cultural expectations of femininity.Ph.D.Ancient historyClassical literatureLanguage, Literature and LinguisticsSocial SciencesWomen's studiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/124372/2/3138123.pd