History Essay: The Roman Empire from Augustus to Domitian
For this assignment, you are asked to write a brief analysis of a piece of documentary
evidence from the Roman world. Your task is to explain the source and its significance for
understanding the early Roman Empire. Your analysis should aim at
informing an audience of readers who are interested but do not necessarily know much
about Rome. (For example, imagine that you are writing for a Roman History blog with a
100k followers: lots of potential but 1 chance to get it right).
Here are some questions to get you thinking:
• Can you find out anything about the find context? Where was
it found? Was it displayed in private or in public? Was it found together with other
objects?
• Does the object connect / support / contradict information found in other sources for
the same event / period?
• Does the object provide any unique information?
In writing your analysis, please also keep in mind the following formal requirements:
• Word limit: 800 words (+/- 10%)
• Double space the text (use the line spacing function in your word processor). Please do
this as it makes my work a lot easier when marking.
• Make sure to reference adequately (in-text or with footnotes) and format your
bibliography correctly. Even though you are writing for a non-specialist audience, this is
still an essential skill.
• In referencing keep in mind the distinction between primary sources and secondary
literature (for more information, see the file about tips for “using modern scholarship”).
• You are expected to reference meaningfully at least 3 pieces of modern scholarship.
Please make sure that this is reasonably up-to-date scholarship.
SOURCE. Funerary inscription in praise of a woman named Murdia (CIL 6.10320 = ILS 8394) (transl. diotimadoctafemina.org)
BEGINNING DAMAGED AND TEXT PARTLY LOST
She made all her sons equal heirs, after she gave a bequest to her daughter.
A mother’s love is composed of her affection for her children and equal distribution to each child.
She willed her husband [the speaker’s stepfather] a fixed sum, so that his dower right would be
increased by the honour of her deliberate choice.
Recalling my father’s memory and taking account of it and of the trust she owed him, she
bequeathed certain property to me. She did so not in order to wound my brothers by preferring me to
them, but remembering my father’s generosity, she decided that I should have returned to me the
part of my inheritance which she had received by the decision of her husband, so that what had been
taken care of by his orders should be restored to my ownership.
In such action she determined to maintain the marriages given to her by her parents to worthy men,
with obedience and propriety, and as a bride to become more beloved because of her merits, to be
thought dearer because of her loyalty, to be left in greater honour because of her judgement, and
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after her death to be praised in the estimation of her fellow citizens, since the division of her estate
indicated her grateful and honourable intentions towards her husbands, her fairness to her children
and the justice shown by her sincerity.
For these reasons, praise for all good women is simple and similar, since their native goodness and
the trust they have maintained do not require a diversity of words. Sufficient is the fact that they
have all done the same good deeds that deserve fine reputation, and since their lives fluctuate with
less diversity, by necessity we pay tribute to values they hold in common, so that nothing may be lost
from fair precepts and harm what remains.
Still, my dearest mother deserved greater praise than all others, since in modesty, propriety, chastity,
obedience, woolworking, industry, and loyalty she was on a equal level with other good women, nor
did she take second place to any woman in virtue, work and wisdom in times of danger.
REMAINING TEXT LOST
ANCIENT ROME HISTORY
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Course
Date
Introduction
The history of Rome offers a fair analysis ground on the concept of civilization. Rome is not the earliest civilized place, but the studies are accurate based on the amount of information circulating about it. Rome's documentation offers undisputable history with specific examples and evidence of their political, social, and economic lives. Since the rise of the empire, numerous leaders have influenced how societies and political institutions worked. Ancient history can also be used to study the path of various social concepts like discrimination, inequality, and migrations. Numerous reigns in the jurisdictions have detailed messages and evidence of the names social concepts. This paper shall specialize in the time between Augustus and Domitian rule. The concepts under discussion will be women's role in those societies and how they influenced social dictums dictated by the political class. While it is evident that women today have more freedoms and privileges than women in ancient Rome, it is critical to determine the extent of discrimination and its source. In the mid and late twentieth century, there are numerous tales of brave women that fought to break the dictums of the societies they lived in. in ancient Rome there was also this breed of women, and we shall discuss the role that Laudatio Turiae played in politics and analyze how it is connected to the real vents of ancient Rome.
Role of Women
The main role of women was bearing children who would become heirs to thrones and inherit properties of their father. Male heirs were preferred, and because of the old traditions and limited scientific studies, the inability to bear children and giving birth to females was always considered their fault. Other roles included engaging in farming and craft to support their families and being subordinate to their husbands. Other than that, their duties were mainly house chores, and in royal families, they were performed by maids and slaves. Among the elite, the role of the wives was to accompany their husbands to any type of event without direct involvement in their affairs. They were considered a lower class of humans than males. Rarely were they seen in political arenas or developmental discussions, although in the background, they played determining roles by influencing how their husbands ruled and interacted with people of their class. Queens played this role by sometimes determining who would marry their daughters and women that their sons could marry. Political ambitions and alignments played a critical role in this endeavor.[Hemelrijk, Emily A. "Ma...