The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome

Description

The decadence and depravity of the ancient Romans are a commonplace of serious history, popular novels and spectacular films. This book is concerned not with the question of how immoral the ancient Romans were but why the literature they produced is so preoccupied with immorality. The modern image of immoral Rome derives from ancient accounts which are largely critical rather than celebratory. Upper-class Romans habitually accused one another of the most lurid sexual and sumptuary improprieties. Historians and moralists lamented the vices of their contemporaries and mourned for the virtues of a vanished age. Far from being empty commonplaces these assertions constituted a powerful discourse through which Romans negotiated conflicts and tensions in their social and political order. This study proceeds by a detailed examination of a wide range of ancient texts (all of which are translated) exploring the dynamics of their rhetoric, as well as the ends to which they were deployed. Roman moralising discourse, the author suggests, may be seen as especially concerned with the articulation of anxieties about gender, social status and political power. Individual chapters focus on adultery, effeminacy, the immorality of the Roman theatre, luxurious buildings and the dangers of pleasure. This book should appeal to students and scholars of classical literature and ancient history. It will also attract anthropologists and social and cultural historians. 01.0_pp_i_viii_Frontmatter 02.0_pp_ix_x_Contents 03.0_pp_xi_xii_Preface 04.0_pp_1_33_Introduction 05.0_pp_34_62_A_moral_revolution_The_law_against_adultery 06.0_pp_63_97_Mollitia_reading_the_body 07.0_pp_98_136_Playing_Romans_representations_of_actors_and_the_theatre 08.0_pp_137_172_Structures_of_immorality_rhetoric_building_and_social_hierarchy 09.0_pp_173_206_Prodigal_Pleasures 10.0_pp_207_220_Bibliography 11.0_pp_221_224_Index_locorum 12.0_pp_225_229_Index_of_subjects_and_proper_names