Were Roman women freer and more engaged in society than their Greek counterparts?
The wives of Greek citizens were supposed to stay at home and not go out and about except to religious festivals. roman wives had more freedom of movement and were able to go out to banquets and to the games etc. Sparta was different from most other Greek states in that the women were expected to exercise and keep fit so that they could bear healthy children. Also the men mostly lived seperate lives from the women, being expected to spend their time either away at war, or living in military barracks, so women were left to run things at home a good deal and therefore had more power than other Greek women. However, Greek and Roman women were both always under male authority, and the roman male head of the family had absolue power over all the family members, even the right to kill them if he felt like it. So any freedom the roman woman had was limited. Both Greek and roman women were allowed to divorce their husbands, but most divorces were intiated by men. And female infanticide was wid
