Roman and Byzantine Periods

Western Asia became the center of the Roman Empire with the foundation of Constantinople in 324 by Constantine the Great (r.324-337). This city, inaugurated on 11 May 330 at the site of ancient Byzantium, became his new capital and replaced the old pagan Rome. From this point the new Christian capital dominated Europe for eleven centuries, until 1453 C.E. The church acknowledged that women were spiritually equal to men - though they could not be ordained - and there were many well-known female martyrs and saints. Theotokos (Mother of God) and her icons were always central to both private and public devotion in Byzantium, and the icon of the Theotokos holding the Christ child - an icon known as the Hodegetria - was one of the holiest in Constantinople. The adoption of Christianity had a great impact on the position of women. Despite the idealization of celibacy as the Christian ideal, the family was the fundamental unit of Byzantine society, and it was seen as a natural duty of girls to marry and bear children. As in Rome, girls could marry at the age of twelve - though this was not generally the norm in other than aristocratic families - and boys at fourteen; parental consent was, of course, essential. Women were expected to preserve their physical virginity until their wedding night, and to avoid seduction, daughters were, when possible, kept segregated and chaperoned, meeting only men who belonged to their own family. The tradition of living as extended families continued, and unless women went into monastic life their sphere was seen as specifically within the family.