Family Structure
Like the ancient Egyptians and the Greeks, the Romans had a similar family structure. There was the mother, the father, the children, and often, there were slaves. Much like the others it would appear that the marriages happened around the same time, meaning that the husband and wives were of similar ages to the Egyptians and the Greeks, which would put them as early teen for girls (12-16) and late teens early twenties for the boys. However one aspect of the marriage that was different was, “Marriages in Ancient Rome could be in manu 'in the hand' or sine manu 'without the hand'. In the former case, the wife became part of her husband's family; in the latter, she remained tied to her family of origin.” (Gill, Roman Family). Men also had much more power than the women, much like in Greece. “But Roman women also had a lot more power than other women of this time. Roman women could own property, and could buy and sell their property, or rent apartments, without their husband's permission. They could (like the men) get a divorce if they wanted to, and if they could afford it.” (Carr, Roman Families). Most Roman families had a lot of children, because they would not all survive their childhood. Therefore they had around 5-6 children, with only 2-3 of them surviving. In addition to that, the father could decide whether or not they wanted to raise the child, or let it die, soon after its birth. When it comes to divorces it appears that either partner could divorce the other as long as they had the funds, however, “...the family connections established via first marriages need not be broken. Emancipated sons were still entitled to shares of paternal estates.” (Gill, Roman Family).
Why were the Roman families structured this way?
Like the others before them, and the others after them, the Romans lived the way they did, because it was the best way that they could think of. Like the other different ancient families, the average life span was only around 30 years old, so they had to get all they could while they were alive. So that is in large part why the young women, became mothers at such a young age. The men first had to establish themselves financially before marrying, which is why it took them a few more years before they did. Once again the number of children is indicative to the time period, because with so many children dieing or being abandoned when they were still babies, mothers needed to have more and more to ensure that some would survive.