HIST 323 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Essentialism, Gladiator
4 Aug 2019
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History 323 Notes
February 21 2017
- Romanitus = Roman ness
- The Vir: man born into severe responsibility of making himself display all of
the qualities that justify Roman domination
- Regime of Vir = severe
- Being a freeborn does not guarantee being a Vir = therefore, it is an obtained
status
o Displaying masculinity of Romanitas is considered a burden
- A freeborn Greek citizen was not the same as a Roman Vir
- Sex in Greece = a service expected by the wife to give ot her husband without
question
o For husband: an obligation toward the Oikos; to procreate
- Sex in Rome = Roman’s display of Romanitus, starts in the Domus
- Domus was to exemplify the virtues of Romanitus
- Livy: “we are not what we were”
o Framework of nostalgia and what has been lost
o Imperial ethos = never goes away
o As a result, Roman culture is more moralizing
- Cicero
o Influential writer of Roman republic
o He is “Romanitus”
o Introduced Greek dialogue into Roman literature
o Had a perfect Latin style
o Pg. 337:
▪ Stuprum is mentioned (illicit sexual acts)
• “lady among the men”
▪ natural vs. unnatural sexual acts
o pg. 339:
▪ “what enticements…”
• slaves and passivity are used in this writing style
o Pg. 340:
▪ This kind of attempt, which attacks the man of having been
penetrated, and even one who acted “as a boy” when hes
getting too old → insult when you can accuse someone who is
past the age of 18/19 of being a pour
• Roman citizen were not supposed to be anyone’s pour
even though they often were
- Hierarchy:
o Vir
▪ Wife, boy, sister all protected through Vir
▪ In harmonious Domus, even the slave of his familia, the sexual
lives of slaves are policed (under authority of wife as well).
Document Summary
The vir: man born into severe responsibility of making himself display all of the qualities that justify roman domination. Being a freeborn does not guarantee being a vir = therefore, it is an obtained status: displaying masculinity of romanitas is considered a burden. A freeborn greek citizen was not the same as a roman vir. Sex in greece = a service expected by the wife to give ot her husband without question. Domus was to exemplify the virtues of romanitus: for husband: an obligation toward the oikos; to procreate. Sex in rome = roman"s display of romanitus, starts in the domus. Livy: we are not what we were : framework of nostalgia and what has been lost, imperial ethos = never goes away, as a result, roman culture is more moralizing, influential writer of roman republic. Cicero: he is romanitus , introduced greek dialogue into roman literature, had a perfect latin style, pg. 337: stuprum is mentioned (illicit sexual acts)
