Roman Wives, Roman Widows

During the late Republic and early Empire, the 'new woman' made her appearance. This was a wife or widow of means who took part in life outside the walls of her house, including wider society, business and extra-marital affairs. Winter's specialised study investigates the reasons for this social change, asking what conditions had emerged that allowed women to have affairs with immunity and divorce their husbands, reclaiming their dowries. Initially Winter searches for evidence of the 'new woman' in the literature of the period, notably in the works of Catullus and Ovid, before examining in detail the place of women and marriage in law, the Roman ideal of the perfect wife, and the role of the Christian church in bringing wives back into the fold of their families and respectability .