Roman Civilization

CMS 206 /History 206

Assigned Readings This Week:

• Women
  • RCvII - 99-101 (356-362)
  • Juvenal on Roman Women (on line version of #99)
  • lecture notes on Juvenal 6 (#99)
  • Cicero on Clodia
  • Cicero's letters to and on his wife and daughter
  • Musonius Rufus on the role of women
  • St. Paul on women
  • St. Jerome on women - part 1; part 2
  • Sulpicia's poetry
• Slavery
  • RCvI - 94 &endash; 95 (227-234); 166 (440-450)
  • RCvII &endash; 24 (85-95)
  • Pliny the Younger, Ep. 3.14; Ep. 5.19

   

Questions to Consider:

• Compare the status of Roman women to that of American women in the year 1900 and the year 2000. What were the important differences and similarities. Do your observations hold true when comparing working class women as well as women of the elite?
  
  
• How did the early Christian fathers view the social role of women. How is this different from what non-Christians believed. Was there a difference between the ideology and praxis of the Christian fathers comparable to what we discussed in class about Cicero's writings on women and his own relationship to his wife and daughter?
  
  
• Does Sulpicia's poetry give us a helpful insight on the perspective of Roman women on their role in society? How might Sulpicia be better evidence than what Pliny has to say about Arria Paeti and Appian has to say about Hortensia?
  
• Describe the range of social relationships a Roman citizen might have with a slave. What does this information tell us about Romanitas?
  
  
• The Romans discovered that Gauls sometimes sold themselves into slavery to pay off personal debts. Why would a Roman find this hard to understand?
  
  
• Based on what you know about what Romans thought about women and what they thought about slaves, why do you think Romans abhorred the notion of Roman women having sexual relationships with slaves?
  
  
• Why was slave rebellion so feared by the Roman citizens?
  
  
• Why was slavery so important in the distinctions between the rich and the poor?
  
  
• What kind of opportunities were available to slave to "move up" from their positions?