The Re-Creation of a Young Roman Girl Essay examples -- Rome Culture T

The Re-Creation of a Young papistic GirlAt seven years old this puppyish, upper-class1 Roman girl, daughter of a expectant political figure, is posing for a depiction of her face. Her father is demanding her whole family stool one done so that everyone can see their family displayed for years to come. As predicted by her father, Roman art historians are very interested in these portrayings and the past they represent. In 1998 this bust is a rare and exceptional line up among art collectors. This portraying is now one of twenty-one sculptures found in the Riley Collection of Roman Portrait Sculpture at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. This portrait is rare, first because it is a portrait of a child, and second because it is portrait of a young girl. Children were often exposed in ancient Rome, especially young girls. The reasons for exposure are probably monetary. Poor families could not afford more children, and wealthy families did not want to have to divide their inheritan ce every more than necessary. Boys were most often kept because they would be the heir to the family and cover the family wealth, while daughters would require a dowry to be given to her husband.2 When the portrait is finished, this young girl and her two older brothers, would be immortalized in stone. This portrait may have been chosen to be made at this duration because the girls father had reached a certain political status, or because this girl had reached an be on where it was believed she had survived the hardest part of her life, her childhood, or a combination of both.3 It is unlikely this portrait is a funerary memorial due to the simple fact that it is a aggress sculpture rather than relief. Most grave markers were decorated with relief in the ancient time... ...n citizens. In order for that to occur, both parents had to be legal Roman citizens. Marriage was a necessary function for survival of lineage, not something each Roman man wanted to be trapped in (Dixon, 1 992, 60-65). contact Lefkowitz and Fant on guardianship and the Julian Marriage Laws.24 Dixon, 1992, 72-75. 25 Women were seen to be too careless to manage their own affairs, even as adults. However, women could institute their own tutor, and may have chosen one strictly for affable purposes and managed their own money. See Lefkowitz and Fant on the laws of guardianship. 26 Foss tells the story of Pomponia, the wife of Quintus Cicero, when she is a guest somewhere. She was not invited to have the responsibility of organizing and supervising the feast at the estate. Because she is treated as a guest, she refuses to attend the meal. 27 Foss, 1995.