ages of women at the time of marriage: the example of ancient Salona

Abstract

U epigrafskome materijalu antičke Salone postoji mala grupa nadgrobnih spomenika koji bilježe starosnu dob žena u vrijeme smrti i trajanje braka. Oni su izvrstan izvor podataka o braku, kvaliteti življenja žena i općenito društvenim prilikama u salonitanskom društvu. Ljudi zabilježeni na ovim epitafima pripadali su uglavnom srednje imućnom društvenom staležu koji se razvio u urbanim središtima Rimskoga Carstva. Među njima se pojavljuju oslobođenici/oslobođenice, slobodni građani/građanke, ali i robovi/ropkinje. Nadgrobni spomenici ovog karaktera nisu bili česta pojava u Rimskome Carstvu. Najvećim dijelom evidentirani su u gradovima antičke Italije, dok ih je jedan manji broj pronađen u provincijskim središtima Afrike, Dalmacije i Panonije.Among the epigraphic records from Roman-era Salona, there is a small group of grave monuments that record the age of women at the time of their death and the duration of their marriage. These are an outstanding source of data on marriage, the quality of life of women, and overall social circumstances in Salona. The people commemorated in these epigraphs generally belonged to the well-to-do middle class that emerged in urban centres of the Roman Empire. Among them there were freedmen/women, free citizens of both sexes, but also slaves. Grave monuments of this character were not common in the Roman Empire. They were mostly documented in the cities of ancient Italy, while only a smaller number has been found in the provincial centres of Africa, Dalmatia and Pannonia