Gender and Ancient Times

In book nine, I found a few instances which Augustine wrote about that seemed to show certain attitudes about gender in ancient Roman times. These examples give evidence that women were very much subservient to men in this time period. The Roman Empire was clearly a patriarchal society.

When discussing his mother's early life Augustine says, "When she reached the age for marriage, and was bestowed upon a husband, she served him as her lord" (176). Two sequences of this quote prove to the reader that there was a male-dominated society during this time. First Augustine uses the word choice "bestowed upon a husband" to describe how his mother met a man and married him. This wording implies that the women in a marriage had no choice who she would be married to. In fact, it seems as though she is some kind of commodity. She is the property of the husband and clearly below him in importance. Next he says "she served him as her lord" now it is unmistakable that the woman served man in this society. Man was her "lord."

Another example of the idea of male superiority occurs when Augustine writes about his mother and father's relationship. He says, "...[his mother] knew that a woman must not resist a husband in anger, by deed or even by word" (176). The husband is again pictured as the ruler of the household. The wife must submit to his wishes even when she disagrees with him. The wife must put aside her welfare for the sake of his temper. The man is of more importance than the woman. The male dominates the society.

When recanting how his mother had passed away, he says how Adeodatus was upset. "As she breathed her last, the child Adeodatus broke out into lamentation and we all checked him and brought him to silence. But in this very fact the childish element in me, which was breaking out into tears, was checked and brought to silence by the manlier voice of my mind" (181). In this Augustine has a notion of a "manly" stereotype that he must abide to. If he cries for his mother, then he appears to be weak, childish, effeminate, and "bad" in the eyes of his patriarchal society. Although Adeodatus was only admonished for crying, he was a child. Had Augustine cried, he would have been embarrassed because weeping is an "unmanly" action. Clearly Augustine lives in a patriarchal society that values "manliness."

Rome was a male-dominated society. This is reflected in the writings of Augustine. Although these writings are spiritual in nature, they can still be used as a window into the social values of this time. This "window" provides the reader with the ideas of what the roman man should be: strong, tough and the ruler of the household. On the other hand, Augustine's work shows the characteristics of what the woman should be: weak and subservient to man. These two stereotypes of gender coincide with the characteristics of a patriarchal society.