Niewygodne dziedzictwo?

Uncomfortable Heritage? The Meaning of Pagan Antiquity in the Space of Christian Rome The decline of paganism in Late Antiquity contributed to the transformation of culture of the roman society. With the victory of Christianity, which became firstly a dominant and later the only accepted religion, the objects of the classical culture became a problematic heritage. The aim of the paper is to present the Christians’ shifting attitude towards the material remains of the pagan culture and the way in which they influenced and shaped the identity of the Christian community. These processes are analyzed on the example of Rome in the period from the 4th to the 6th century. Special attention is paid to the area of the Roman Forum, which was characterized by exceptional accumulation and density of the monuments which constituted the pagan heritage. Since it was the central and representative space, the symbolical character of the forum was very important for the leaders of the local community and its transformations reflect very well the changing attitude of the Christians towards the pagan heritage.

Poesia degli oggetti e oggetti di poesia nelle favole di Fedro

Fluctuating between the fantastic character of the Aesopian fable and the concrete nature of the Roman society, Phaedrus gives objects two different roles: in tales about animals, objects are 'foreign bodies', and serve a metaphorical function in line with the moralizing purpose of the story. In tales about humans, on the other hand, objects 'define' characters, and root the story more deeply in a specifically Roman context, closer to the world of satire than to that of narrative literature.

Imagery in Jewish and Christian Ritual Settings

During the Roman period, Jewish and Christian communities throughout the Mediterranean had a complex relationship with the visual culture of the larger Greco-Roman world. Both groups, in their attempts to be set apart as distinct ethnic or religious entities while at the same time remaining integrated within their surrounding social landscape, expressed themselves in different times and places along a spectrum of selective adoption, adaptation, and rejection of the artistic forms used by their neighbors. For instance, owing to a shared hostility toward pagan idolatry, both communities in the early part of this period largely avoided figural iconography (they instead drew in limited ways upon the non-figural artistic repertoire of local Hellenistic and Roman society), but by later centuries distinctly Jewish and Christian art began to emerge and incorporate a fuller range of Greco-Roman motifs for use in a variety of communal settings.

OGRANIČENjE PRAVA SVOJINE U INTERESU SUSEDA U RIMSKOM PRAVU

Ownership in Roman society have been subject to various restrictions since ancient times. The limits of complete freedom of disposal were set by moral and religious reasons, public interest, neighborly relations. Restriction of ownership in the interest of neighbors arose during the early Roman period. The first such restrictions come from Law of the XII tables and were mainly related to the regulation of relations between neighbors in the use of agricultural land. Later, and on these foundations, the neighborhood law was only developed and supplemented, at the same time reflecting the new needs of life.

Commending a freedman. Virtues and masculinities in the recommendation letters of Cicero and Pliny the Younger

This article explores Roman freedmen’s masculine positions expressed as virtues, qualities, and ideals in the recommendation letters of Cicero and Pliny the Younger. It discusses whether there were specific freedman virtues, qualities, and ideals and what consequences their existence or absence had for freedmen’s constructions of masculinity. A critical close reading of the texts is applied, combined with theories of masculinity, where hegemonic masculinity is a key concept. It is concluded that there were no virtues or qualities that were specific or exclusive to freedmen. A distinct set of virtues for freedmen did not exist in Late Republican and Early Imperial Rome, since much the same behaviour and qualities are seen as manly and desirable for freedmen as for freeborn male citizens of high birth. However, freedmen cannot comply with the hegemonic masculinity in full, since they cannot embody the Roman masculine ideal of the vir bonus and cannot be associated with the Roman cardinal virtue virtus, which was central in the construction of masculinity in the Roman world. This illustrates the complex Roman gender discourse and, on the whole, the social complexity of Roman society.

FROM ‘GREEKLING’ TO ‘THUNDERBOLT’: THE MANY NICKNAMES OF EMPEROR JULIAN

The article discusses the nicknames of Emperor Julian. An analysis of the onomastic tradition makes it possible not only to assess the perception of certain aspects of the emperor's activities by various layers of late Roman society at different stages of his political career, but also to trace the metamorphoses of the image of the last open pagan on the throne of the Roman Empire in the later tradition.

Gladiators as a Class

The amphitheatre has been described as a microcosm of Roman society. In the amphitheatre the social divisions and distinctions that defined Roman society were exposed to all. From the worst seats to the best seats, from slaves to the emperor, from dirty clothes to regal purple, visually (and audibly) society was on show. At the heart of this was the arena itself, where the gaze of all fell upon the gladiators. These men (and women) were, in principle, the lowest of the low; despised and hated, debased outcasts from society. In reality their place in society and their relationship to and with those who gazed upon them was more complex. This chapter will investigate how gladiators were viewed both by others and by themselves, and the extent to which gladiators were regarded as a cohesive group, even a ‘class’. It will explore how the lowly legal status of gladiators, their social isolation and the stigma of infamia, co-existed with society’s admiration for fighting prowess and its need for heroes and sex-symbols. It will also explore how gladiators shaped their own identity and created their own social structures, ‘families’ and hierarchies within the gladiatorial barracks. One of the challenges in investigating gladiators is moving beyond the stereotypes and prejudices created by elite authors; to this end this chapter will look not just at literary sources, but also inscriptions, epitaphs and gladiatorial tombstones and burials. This evidence highlights the central dichotomy that faced gladiators and defined their life; that they were both isolated from but integral to Roman society.

Gladiators

This paper argues for the professionalism of the gladiators and their combat-spectacles. It examines the rules that governed the combats, the expectations placed on those engaged in them, their extensive training, the organization of those involved and the costs associated with the spectacle. The stress is on the skill, courage, and discipline displayed by the gladiators in combat. It also considers the attitudes of the spectators: their knowledge of the combat techniques and their expectations are key to evaluating the social and cultural impact of the spectacle in Roman society. Given the time, energy, and resources devoted to staging and watching gladiatorial combats, there is little doubt about their social and cultural significance. A variety of evidence is employed, especially epigraphic, in order to reconstruct the events in the arena.

The Colosseum

This chapter provides an overview of the uses and structural history of the Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre constructed in the Roman world. Romans knew it as the ‘Amphitheatrum Flavium’, after the dynasty of emperors responsible for its construction. It continued in use even after the fall of Rome, with games still popular into the sixth century. The chapter examines the evidence for naumachiae during the inaugural games and concludes that it is most unlikely that the Colosseum area was flooded to a practical depth. It also reviews the evidence for the accommodation of spectators and its reflection of Roman society.

Material Evidence

Slaves were central to every aspect of Roman society. However¸ they are difficult to identify in the archaeological record. Most were genetically similar to the free population. Unlike slaves in the American ante-bellum South they did not have distinctive residential systems and foodways that can be differentiated archaeologically from those of free persons. Structures related to slavery like market buildings or slave barracks are not easily identified. In contrast, freed slaves, common in ancient Rome are very visible, especially in mortuary monuments. This chapter surveys the extent to which material evidence can shed light on various aspects of the life course of slaves, from enslavement through slave life, to death or manumission.