Catharine Edwards - The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome (1993).pdf - Rzym - AmatorkaKwasnychJablek

The decadence and depravity of the ancient Romans are a common-

place 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 asser-

tions constituted a powerful discourse through which Romans nego-

tiated 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, effemi-

nacy, the immorality of the Roman theatre, luxurious buildings and

the dangers of pleasure.

This book should appeal to students and teachers of classical

literature and ancient history. It will also attract anthropologists and

social and cultural historians.

THE POLITICS OF IMMORALITY IN ANCIENT ROME

The Politics of Immorality

in ancient Rome

CATHARINE EDWARDS

Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History

University of Bristol

CAMBRIDGE

UNIVERSITY PRESS

Catharine Edwards - The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome (1993).pdf