Women… do we need them…

Unfortunately, Roman history is all about males and politics. It's about what they do and how they do it. If you don't do anything interesting or if you're a female, writers and/or historians are usually not interested in you. This attitude is visible in the next quote from Valerius Maximus: "What business has a woman with a public meeting? If ancestral custom be observed, none. But when domestic quiet is stirred by the waves of sedition, the authority of ancient usage is subverted and compulsion of violence has greater force than persuasion and precept of restraint." [Valerius Maximus III.8.6] So besides our 25 male Scipiones, there are only 13 Scipionic female known: seven of them are daughters and six are wives.

All Roman women were under the male control. This was either their father, their husband or a guardian. This was also visible in marriage. A woman could marry sine manu or in manus. In the first case the woman remained in the custody of their father. This meant that they never legally entered their husbands' family and could still inherit from their father. The second type meant the woman came under control of her husband, or if his father was still alive, under his control. In order to make a marriage legal, three conditions have to be fulfilled: At first, both parties had to be free and posses citizenship (conubium). Second, both parties had to have reached puberty. For boys, this is around 14, for girls around 12. And final, in case of siu iuris both parties have to consent. Or, if the fathers were still alive, they had to consent. A man was under the potestas of his father, until his father's death. The marriage could be celebrated with a party or a ceremony, but this wasn't a legal necessity. Living together in one house was not enough to distinguish cohabitation from marriage. To mark a marriage, the affectus maritalis was important. The mutual recognition of each other as husband and wife and act accordingly. Furthermore, a wife has to make her husband's house hers (in domum deducta). This meant that a woman had to be physically present at her wedding, because otherwise she cannot enter his house. A man on the other hand can be absent [Gardner 1986].
The minor role of women is something else from being invisible. Women weren't locked up in the houses of their father of husband. They participate in special rituals and festivals, like the Bona Dea which involved all aristocratic women and the Vestal Virgins. To keep control specific social values were put on women. The highest female values are – not completely surprising – modesty (pudicitia) and chastity (castitas) [Culham 2004]. This is also visible with one of the Scipionic daughters. The youngest daughter of Scipio Africanus – Cornelia Minor – was married to Ti. Sempronius Gracchus. The story goes that they had many (up to twelve) children, but only three survived; two boys – Tiberius and Gaius – and one daughter – Sempronia. After the death of her husband, she devotes herself to the education of her children, calling them 'her jewels'. Both her sons are murdered; Tiberius in 133 and Gaius in 212. After their murders she withdraws to her country house in Misenum (South-Italy) which becomes a kind of cultural and social centre. Two points emerge from her tale: one, it seems like everything we want to know about her, we do. But so much is not known. For instance, when did she marry? How old was she? How many children did she have? When did her husband die? When was she born and when did she die? The second point is resulting from the first: Cornelia – just like earlier tales about Lucretia or Verginia – is being used as a role model for woman. Her tales tells them how to behave. She's praised as the loyal wife, the dedicated mother and the exemplary widow. She reflects the ideals Romans find so important: chastity, good parentage, exemplary behavior and the possibility to receive offspring [Dixon 2007].

The other Scipionic woman are only kown, because they played a role in a man's life, or through deduction from the sources. For now I will give a short summary of all known women (daughters and wives). A more detailed account will follow later on. Because all daughters receive the same name – Cornelia – I gave the daughters a cognomen, although this is not usual for women, only to keep them apart. The cognomen is placed

The following daughters are known:

1. Cornelia (Calva): daughter of Scipio Calvus
2. Cornelia Major: daughter of Scipio Africanus (and also wife of Scipio Nasica Corculum)
3. Cornelia Minor: daughter of Scipio Africanus
4. Cornelia (Serapia): Scipio Nasica Serapio jr.
5. Cornelia (L.f.): daughter of Scipio Asiaticus or L. Scipio Asiaticus f.
6. Cornelia (Asiatica): daughter of Scipio Asiaticus
7. Cornelia (Metella): daughter of Metellus Scipio

Cornelia L.f. and Cornelia Asiatica could also be the same woman. More on this later.

The following wives are known:

1. Aemilia Tertia: wife of Scipio Africanus
2. Paulla: wife of Scipio Hispallus
3. Cornelia Major: wife of Scipio Nasica Corculum (and also daughter of Scipio Africanus)
4. Sempronia: wife of Scipio Aemilianus
5. Caecilia Metella: wife of Scipio Nasica Serapio jr.
6. Licinia Crassa: wife of Scipio Nasica jr.
   

Based on:

• Dixon, S. Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi (Abingdon 2007)
• Gardner, J.F., Woman in Roman law and society (Beckenham 1986)
• Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta memorabilia, translated by: D.R. Shackleton Bailey (Cambridge MA 2000)

Some further reading suggestions:

• Dixon S., The Roman family (Baltimore 1992)
• Gardner, J.F., Family and familia in Roman law and life (Oxford 1998)
• Treggiari, S.M., Roman marriage: iusti coniuges from the time of Cicero to the time of Ulpian (Oxford 1991)
• Rawson, Children and childhood in Roman Italy (Oxford 2003)
• Rawson, B., Marriage, divorce and children in ancient Rome (Canberra 1991)