Like much of Roman society, it was highly structured but also logical and, in some ways, even modern. Marriage in Roman times was often not at all romantic. Rather, it was an agreement between families. Men would usually marry in their mid-twenties, while women married while they were still in their early teens.
The age of lawful consent to a marriage was 12 for girls and 14 for boys. Most Roman women married in their early teens to young men in their twenties. Roman mores idealized a married daughter's relationship to her father as deferential and obedient, even at her husband's expense.
With life expectancies of twenty to thirty, women would have to give birth to between 4.5 and 6.5 children to maintain replacement levels.
At least two of the Roman Emperors were in same-sex unions; and in fact, thirteen out of the first fourteen Roman Emperors are held to have been bisexual or exclusively homosexual. The first Roman emperor to have married a man was Nero, who is reported to have married two other men on different occasions.
Ancient Romans probably had very little regard for personal space since one way that social equals, usually those we would consider aristocrats, would greet each other on a daily basis would be with a kiss. Family members would kiss when meeting, brothers, friends, and even boxers and wrestlers would touch lips.
Unlike society in ancient Egypt, Rome did not regard women as equal to men before the law. They received only a basic education, if any at all, and were subject to the authority of a man. Traditionally, this was their father before marriage.
Even amid high infant mortality, Rome remained a society that bustled with children and teens. The average woman had between four and six children. Thus siblings were common, especially since remarriage was a regular occurrence.
Female - Ancient Rome (753BC – 476AD)
“Wealthy ancient Roman women, had a long list of beauty ideals to check off: being slim but robust; high, round, youthful breasts; narrow shoulders; small waist; wide hips and thighs; long, hairless legs; rosy lips and cheeks.
Life expectancy at birth was a brief 25 years during the Roman Empire, it reached 33 years by the Middle Ages and raised up to 55 years in the early 1900s.
Although the Roman patriarchy controlled how marriage was defined and observed, and men were expected to have extramarital dalliances, there was still room for honest, loving relationships between husbands and wives based on mutual trust and affection.
Ancient Roman law required brides to be at least 12 years old. In ancient Roman law, first marriages to brides aged 12–25 required the consent of the bride and her father, but by the late antique period Roman law permitted women over 25 to marry without parental consent.
Most young Greek women would be married at about the age of fourteen to a man roughly twice their age. Prior to the marriage ceremony the couple would probably have met only a few times, and while the bride would normally be a virgin, the husband almost certainly was not.
Remember the average life for a man in the Ancient Rome's times was about 40… Even the average height was shorter than today's Romans: around 5'5”!
Based on the written observations of fever, diarrhea, and boils by the Greek physician Galen, historians infer that smallpox caused the plague. Including substantial army deaths, the outbreaks decimated an estimated two thirds of the Roman population, killing roughly 2000 people per day.
The answer that the average height of Ancient Romans was between 5' and 5.5' tall has been answered by other responders, and it can be proven based on dug up skeletal remains.
During the Roman Empire, the lack of body hair was considered a sign of the classes. Wealthy women and men used razors made from flints, tweezers, creams, and stones to remove excess hair.
When it comes to the personal lives of female slaves, they were not allowed to marry fellow slaves, or to keep their children. Even though formal marriage, conubium, was forbidden, illegal unions like marriages were common.
The prospective bride and groom were committed to marry each other at the betrothal, a formal ceremony between the two families. Gifts would be exchanged and the dowry agreed. A written agreement would be signed and the deal sealed with a kiss.
In the Roman law, there is no conception of legal age for the majority: the young people stay under the authority of the pater familias (father of the family) until the death of the father. If the father is dead: the boy becomes a pupil and has a specific juridical status until his 25 years.
Both boys and girls were educated, though not necessarily together. In a system much like the one that predominates in the modern world, the Roman education system that developed arranged schools in tiers.
It is generally accepted that sibling marriages were widespread at least during the Graeco-Roman period of Egyptian history. Numerous papyri and the Roman census declarations attest to many husbands and wives being brother and sister.
Roman men liked women with a light complexion, smooth skin, and minimal body hair. White teeth, long eyelashes, and no body odor was preferable as well. To maintain these standards, rich Roman women used extensive measures to keep their 'natural beauty'.
Laws from the two major city-states of Athens and Sparta indicate that Greeks were legally permitted to marry their own siblings, while in Rome, it was not uncommon for uncles to marry nieces, which was legalized after the Emperor Claudius married his brother's daughter, Agrippina.
Nevertheless, the life of a gladiator was usually brutal and short. Most only lived to their mid-20s, and historians have estimated that somewhere between one in five or one in 10 bouts left one of its participants dead.