The Place of Marriage and Children in Roman Society

Abstract

The chapter begins by examining the implicit and explicit connections between marriage and the production of children in Roman society. It then considers how the marriage patterns of the Roman elite were designed to maximise the production of legitimate children, even though the literary sources claim that elite Romans were unwilling to marry or produce children and that childless individuals – orbi – were privileged. Underneath these gendered accusations rests a fear that the elite population was failing to reproduce itself. This chapter argues that any such failure was not due to intentional efforts by elite men or women to reject marriage or parenthood, which remained socially expected obligations. The chapter ends by considering how to read the Augustan marriage legislation as a response to this moral panic and as an attempt to assert stability in a highly unstable time rather than a solution to a quantifiable demographic trend.