Quote Originally Posted by Lord of the Isles
At birth a Roman citizen had a life expectancy of about 25, and no doubt other cultures had a lower figure.
This whole average life expectancy is always misrepresented... It's not that people in the ancient world did not live to a ripe old age, they did... It is firstly that the infant mortality rate was hiddious... Something like only 2 in 10 (working from memory here so give us a break.. ) survived the first year... This hugely affects the average life expectancy... Also death was an every day thing... Get an infected cut? You stood a good chance of dying.. Get a serious work injury? Either die now or starve later...

No wonder these people had no quams about gladatorial combat and the mass slaughter of enemies... Death was all around, all the time...

People did not just drop dead at 30... If you survived you first year you had a chance of getting to 70 or 80... You would just have to be extremely lucky is all....

But having said this, the fact that death was all around and the lack of good career prospects for women in the ancient world ment girls would be considered women as soon a biology said so...