Changes in Religion, Government, and Women's Rights During the Classical Period of Rome

Over the course of the Classical Period, 100CE-600CE, in Rome, some things changed while others stayed the same. The religion of the area changed because of Constantine's desire to unite the empire, yet women still remained socially inferior to men because of Christianity's belief in the inherent evil of women. The East continued Rome's governmental structure, while the West changed and formed its government around individual kingdoms. This was because of the split between the eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire.

In 100 CE, the social structure of the Roman family centered on the pater familias, where the eldest male in the family was in charge. Although Roman women could own property, they were nevertheless inferior to men. Slavery was an important element of the social and economic structure of Rome, with most slaves coming from conquered territories. Rome was governed by an emperor, who had control over all aspects of Rome. Under emperors, the Roman Empire expanded to its largest geographical proportions through additional military conquests.

Paganism was the state religion of the Roman Empire in 100 CE. Many of their gods were of Greek origin, though appropriately renamed to suit Rome's culture and language. Roman citizens were required to make sacrifices to the traditional Roman gods. However, Christianity was becoming more and more established in the Roman Empire. Emperor Nero began to persecute Christians, but these acts of violence failed to stop the spread of Christianity. After 322 CE, Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity himself, the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ended. And with Constantine's Edict of Milan, created to unite all Romans under one god instead of the many gods of polytheism to counteract Diocletian's division of the empire during the 3rd century crisis, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

After Constantine's death, the Roman Empire was divided into two pieces, east and west. The eastern half thrived from its center in Constantinople, where Constantine had moved the capital of the Roman Empire in 340 CE. But the western half, centered in Rome, continued its spiral downward, which had started during the 3rd century crisis. Rome faced external pressure form groups of Germanic invaders on its borders. In 410 CE, Rome fell to the Visigoths, and with it fell the western half of the Roman Empire. The eastern half survived, and was later renamed the Byzantine Empire.

The fallen western part of the Roman Empire retained Christianity, and so also the belief that women were inferior, which had always been present in Rome. However, its governmental system changed from that of earlier Rome from an empire to a divided land ruled by monarchs in individual Germanic kingdoms.

The Byzantine Empire in the east, however, which had not been sacked by the Huns and Visigoths, retained the government structure previously in the Roman Empire; it was governed by an emperor. Also, the body of civil law of the Romans became the basis of the civil law in the Byzantine Empire. Like the west, and unlike the earlier Roman Empire, it was a Christian state. Women were subject to further inferior treatment as they had been subject to earlier in Rome. They were confined to houses and had to wear veils.

Sources:
Stearns, Peter. Adas, Michael. Schwartz, Stewart. Gilbert, Marc. World Civilizations: The Global Experience. (2003)