Women in Rome

The place of the matrona (a Roman woman) in the society was mostly indoors, taking care of the family and household. She was under the protection of the pater familias (the master of the house), either the father or the husband. She was not entitled to have any public office or to participate in any political activities. Travel, even accompanied, was all but impossible. Women's individual identities even are often hard for a historian to disentangle, as women simply carried a female version of the gens they belonged to, as a look at the list below confirms.

The notable exception were the Vestal Virgins, who held a religious status and special privileges. Due to this background position in the society, women referred by name in the ancient sources are scarce.

Some exceptions are (list not exaustive and far from being complete):

• Aemilia Scaura (1st century BC), second wife of Pompey and stepdaughter of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the dictator
• Agrippina Major (1st century), wife of Germanicus, mother of emperor Caligula
• Agrippina Minor (1st century), wife of emperor Claudius, mother of emperor Nero
• Caecilia Metella, the women of the Caecilius Metellus family
• Clodia (1st century BC), Catullus's Lesbia
• Cornelia Africana (2nd century BC), mother of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus
• Cornelia Cinna (1st century BC), wife of Julius Caesar
• Cornelia Metella (1st century BC), fifth wife of Pompey
• Domitia Longina (1st century), wife of Domitian
• Fulvia (1st century BC), wife of Marcus Antonius
• Galla Placidia, (5th century)
• Julia Caesaris, the women of the Julii Caesarii family
• Julia Domna (3rd century AD), wife of Septimius Severus
• Livia Drusilla (1st century BC), wife of Augustus
• Messalina, Emperor Claudius' wife
• Mucia Tertia (1st century BC), wife of Pompey
• Plautia Urgulanilla, Emperor Claudius' first wife
• Servilia Caepionis (1st century BC), Julius Caesar mistress, mother of Brutus