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A challenging passage for exegetes and theologians alike is 1 Timothy 2:9-15. What has eluded the discussion has been the source of the image of the wife against which the passage is set. In this essay evidence will be presented which shows that the ‘new’ Roman wife was a contemporary perception which influenced this discussion. The evidence for her is threefold, viz., literary works, the poems of leading elegists of the era of the late Republic and early Empire, and the Augustan laws on marriage which aimed to rein in her promiscuous behaviour. This essay does not seek to comment on the passage as a whole but simply to highlight those sections where this background illuminates specific issues.