Under Roman law, the age of emancipation was the age of puberty, set at 14 for males and 12 for females to avoid embarrassing physical inspections. However, both males and females retained a business advisor, called a curator, until the ancient age of 25 to help them with business matters (in fact, life expectancy at birth in ancient Rome was about 25, but this average was brought down by a high infant mortality rate). Maybe the Romans were onto something?
Posted by Margaret Ryznar on September 21, 2013 at 04:27 PM
Comments
Yes, I believe neuroscience now says somewhere between 25 and 30. It does seem that Romans got it right over 2,000 years ago…
Posted by: Margaret Ryznar | Sep 22, 2013 6:33:20 PM
Doesn’t modern neuroscience generally hold that the brains of young adults (particularly the reasoning centers) are still developing until the age of 25? Interesting that the Romans pegged that so well if so.
Posted by: KM | Sep 22, 2013 11:16:48 AM