Thursday, September 30, 2010

Tacitus on German Women

From "Germania" by Tacitus:
According to Tacitus, the Germans strongly disapproved of extramarital sexual adventures by their womenfolk. Women who transgressed the rules had their heads shaved, were driven from their homes, and received a public beating. There is no indication in Tacitus's account, however, that sexual adventures by men were similarly discouraged. Tacitus professed great admiration for the purity of sexual mores among  Germanic women. His account implicitly contrasted their behavior with that of upper-class Roman matrons of his own time. Germans, according to him, did not allow their wives to gad about unescorted or to participate in late-night parties and drunken revels, nor did they consider adultery smart and up-to-date. Tacitus portrayed the sexual habits of the Germans as upright and austere and marriage as a solemn undertaking in which monogamy was implicit, at least for women.

2 comments:

Carlos DeLeon said...

why ist the woman have to be the fold of all wrong doing in a man life???

Carlos DeLeon said...

any other comment will be welcome