Il ruolo sociale della donna romana di età imperiale: tra discriminazione e riconoscimento

The essay examines the dialectic between social recognition and legal discrimination as usual interpretative key of the subjective status of Roman women. In particular, the study emphazises, despite the varied ar-ray of women’s images documented in the sources, the definition of a par-adigm of social responsibility as a function of their double role, domestic and procreative. The author argues a possible effect of these dimensions on the level of the legally relevant situations, then in terms of stability of marriage, now in sight of an embryonic ‘parenting function’ thanks to the establishment of a general duty of conduct (legislatively sanctioned) for the mother towards the prepubescent child.