Historical story

Entrepreneurs in Ancient Rome

A Roman woman. The women of ancient Rome sometimes worked outside the home and were also entrepreneurs

The Roman feminine ideal, as is well known, was that represented by the matron, whose only life mission was to marry, bear children and educate them according to traditional values, but this does not mean that there were no exceptions and therefore also women who led a different existence.

It was not supposed to be a very frequent custom, but documents, archaeological evidence and numerous frescoes show that some of them worked successfully outside the home, dedicating themselves to various activities, including some considered purely male.

She was certainly particularly resourceful and ingenious Marzia Prima , who had the brilliant idea of ​​transforming weaving, female occupation par excellence until then relegated to the home, in a real business, creating a manufacturing laboratory.

It was not too rare even to come across ladies who managed shops, inns and clubs of various kinds; in Pompeii for example, Calpurnia, operated a rather well-known wine merchant, who perhaps also had a tavern, while in Tivoli, a certain Amenome, she ran a tavern frequented by many men every day.

In short, finding women entrepreneurs in Ancient Rome, it was far from impossible.