AP Latin - Cultural Context Review

Pliny the Younger

Pliny the Younger (61-c. 113 CE) was a lawyer, magistrate, and letter writer who served under the Emperor Trajan. He wrote hundreds of letters that provide the insight into everyday life, the legal system, and Roman public administration in the first century CE.

Roman Family Units

Like broader Roman society, Roman family structure was hierarchiacal and patriarchal. The head of the household, paterfamilias, had the power of life and death over his entire household; although it was considered a dereliction of duty (and counter-productive) to abuse this power by being cruel or violent towards members of a household. A wealthy household typically consisted of husband, wife, children, and enslaved people.

Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Elder (c. 23-79 CE) was Pliny the Younger’s maternal uncle. After Pliny the Younger’s father died, Pliny the Elder took part in his nephews rearing and education and adopted him in his will. In addition to being an admiral in the Roman fleet, Pliny the Elder was an author and scholar who wrote the Natural History, the largest single work from the Roman Empire to have survived antiquity and a model for the modern encyclopedia.

Stoicism of Pliny the Elder

Romans often looked for signs, good or bad, about the future in portents, omens, and dreams. They believed that bad omens could be avoided or averted, but failure to address them could lead to disaster. These prophetic signs could take a variety of forms (e.g. human speech or action, weather or celestial events, features or behavior of animals) and required careful interpretation.

Tacitus

Pliny the Younger’s letters about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius are addressed to his friend, the historian Tacitus. Tacitus (c. 56-c. 120 CE) is best known for his Annals and Histories which examined the lives of emperors and the history of the Roman Empire in the first century CE. The letters he exchanged with Pliny are one of the main sources of the little we know about his personal life.

Eruption of Vesuvius

The Bay of Naples is located on the west coast of the Italian peninsula. Mt. Vesuvius is clearly visible from most placesin the sky as it is located near the center of the ladn around the bay. Misenum is located at the northern end of the Bay of Naples and was where the Roman navy was stationed, which is why Pliny the Elder was there as admiral. The eruption of Mt. Vesuivius in 79 CE famously covered the towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, and Stabiae. Stabiae, mentioned in Pliny’s letters, was south of Vesuvius and in the direct path of the ash and cinder from the eruption.

Measuring Time

The Romans divided the day into 12 hours, from sunrise to sunset. The first hour would begin at sunrise, and the six hour would be approximately midday.

Flavian Dynasty (69-96 CE)

Domitian was the emperor of Rome from 81 to 96 CE, and the last member of the Flavian dynasty (consisting of his father and brother, who both ruled before him). During his rule, he transferred some of the government functions to the imperial court, tried to diminish the power of the Senate, and executed multiple senators.

• 69 - Year of 4 Emperors - Vespasian wins and creates the Flavian dynasty, second after Julio-Claudian. Titus ruled when Vesuvius exploded and Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum) was erected.

The Five Good Emperors (96 CE - 180 CE)

Emperor Trajan ruled the Roman Empire from 98 to 117 CE. He expanded the empire in its greatest territorial size in its history and oversaw extensive public building programs and the enactment of several social welfare policies.

Roman Empire Size

At its height, the Roman Empire encompassed nearly the entire Mediterranean Basin and beyond. It extended west to encompass the entire Iberian Peninsula, north over Britain, east through modern-day Iraq, and into southern Egypt. By the time Vergil was writing the Aeneid in 29 to 19 BCE, the empire included the supposed location of ancient Troy (rebuilt by Augustus as the city of Ilium) and the city of Carthage. In his letters, Pliny refers to Athens and Alexandria (located in Egypt at the mouth of the Nile River) which were a part of the empire at that time in the late first century CE.

Bithynia-Pontus

Pliny the Younger wrote his letters to Emperor Trajan from Bithynia-Pontus, a province in the Roman Empire located on the southern shore of the Black Sea (now in Turkey). Pliny served as governor of the province from 110-113 CE.

Political Connections

A Roman’s social standing could be influenced by their family background, their wealth, their professional accomplishments, and their political power and connections,

Citizenship

Roman citizenship granted free male citizens certain rights and protections, such as the right to a legal trial, the right to vote, and the right to run for civic office. Female Roman citizens, however, were not granted the same rights, protections, or independence (either legally or due to strongly held social norms)

Slavery

Enslaved people were considered property under Roman law and had fed legal rights or protections. They often performed manual labor and domestic services, but they could also be highly educated and do work that reflected this education (e.g. As bookkeepers and physician). Many people enslaved by Romans were captives of war or piracy and came from across Europe and the Mediterranean. An enslaved person could be freed throgu the process of manumission, at which point they might also recieve Roman citizenship and even attain wealth and political influence, despite being barred from holding political offices. However, most people enslaved by the Romans were never freed.

Patronage

The system of patronage (mutually beneficial relationships between individuals with different levels of power and influence) was a major part of Roman culture. Wealthier and more powerful patrons would provide assistance, such as legal defense and gifts of food, to their less powerful clients, who would offer political support and form part of their patron’s entourage in public settings. The relationship between Pliny the Younger and Emperor Trajan was an example of political patronage, as was the relationship between Vergil and Maecenas, who was a friend and political advisor to Caesar Augustus. Thanks to Maecenas’s patronage, Vergil was probably (or encouraged) to write the Aeneid as a pro-Augustan allegory and even include cameos of the Emperor himself,

Vergil (70-19 BCE)

Vergil (70-19 BCE) composed some of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the Aeneid. His works were well known in his lifetime by most educated Romans, and they have had a lasting influence on Western literature.

Aeneid as Propaganda

Augustus successfully used a variety of propaganda to support his rise to power as emperor (27 BCE). Through art, literature, coinage, and architecture, he prompted the idea of his peaceful reign and a powerful, stable empire. The Aeneid created a foundation legend of Rome that established Augustus’s divine ancestry (as a descendant of Aeneas, the son of Venus) and preordained status as ruler, and presented Romans as fated to be rulers of the world.

Augustus’s Connection to the Divine

Venus - > Aeneas - > Iulus - > Iulian Family - > Augustus

Civil Wars

Several civil wars marked the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. Julius Ceasar returned from his invasion of Gaul to wage war on Rome and establish his own dictatorship (49-45 BCE). After his assassination in 44 BCE, an alliance of three influential leaders called the Second Triumvirate marshalled their supporters to defeat the conspirators in Caesar’s death at the battle of Phillippi.

Augustus (63 BCE - 14 BCE)

Caesar Augustus (63 BCE - 14 CE) born Gaius Octavius, was the adopted son and heir of his great-uncle Julius Caesar. Struggles for power between Octavius and the other two members of the Second Triumvirate, Marcus Lepidus and Mark Antony, escalated into civil war, which culminated in Octavius’s defeat of Mark Antony’s and Cleopatra’s arrives at Actium in 31 BCE. Octavius then became the first emperor of Rome in 27 BCE.

Augustus’s Patronage of Vergil

An author’s life and background can inform an interpretation of a text (e.g Vergil’s patronage by Maecaneas, political advisor to Caesar Augustus, probably influenced the pro-Augustan allegory of the Aeneid).

An author’s other works can inform an interpretation of a text, and a work as a whole can inform the interpretation of any part of it.

Pietas

Pietas reflects the Roman ideals of reverence for the gods, loyalty to country, and devotion to parents and family. Vergil’s use of pius to describe Aeneas significantly expresses this seat of ideals in his religious attitude, in his patriotic mission, and in his relations with his father, son, and comrades.

Worshiping the Gods

The Romans viewed their gods as allies in their everyday lives. They prayed and made offerings to household gods at shrines in their homes, and they performed public animal sacrifices to ask the gods for favor or protection. The Romans would sometimes examine the entrails of sacrificed animals, looking for signs indicating the approval of the gods.

Jupiter (Zeus)

• King of the Gods

• Worshiped in Rome as Jupiter Optimus Maximus

• Wielded the lightning bolt

• Had many affairs

Juno (Hera)

• Queen of the Gods

• Due to the judgment of Paris, Juno remained angry at the Trojans even after the war

• Main antagonist of The Aeneid

Minerva (Athena)

• Goddess of wisdom, handicrafts, & tactical warfare

• Daughter of Jupiter

• Allowed to use Jupiter’s lightning bolt

Capitoline Triad

Jupiter, Juno, & Minerva were worshiped alongside one another and known as the Capitoline Triad. Their temple was located on Capitoline Hill.

Mars (Ares)

• Son of Jupiter & Juno

• God of war, known to be more bloodthirsty than Minerva

• The Roman army practiced on the Campus Maritus where there was an altar to Mars

Apollo

• Son of Jupiter

• Considered a sun god

• Patron of music, medicine, prophecy & archery

Mercury (Hermes)

• Son of Jupiter

• God of the merchants & thieves

• Primary task: messenger of Jupiter

• The one to order Aeneas to leave Carthage

Carthage

Rome fought a series of wars of expansion with Carthage, a city on the northern tip of modern Tunisia, between 264 and 146 BCE. Known as the Punic Wars, these conflicts ended when the Romans sacked the city of Carthage and took over Carthaginian territories.

Dido (Elissa)

• Mythical founder of Carthage

• Originally the Queen of Tyre (modern day Lebanon)

• Fled with her supporters after her brother Pygmalion, killed her husband, Sychaeus, for his wealth

Dido (Elissa) - Continued

Dido, also known as Elissa, was the legendary founder of Carthage. She was originally the queen of Tyre (in present-day Lebanon) but fled with her supporters after her brother Pygmalion murdered her husband, Sychaeus, for his wealth. When Dido arrived with her people in northern Africa, she met Iarbas, the leader of the Gaetulians. Iarbas offered her as much land as could be covered by a piece of hide, to which Dido responded by cutting the hide into strips and encircling as much land as she could. Dido also humiliated Iarbas by rejecting his offer of marriage.

Sychaeus

• Husband of Dido

• Murdered by Sychaeus

• Dido pledged she would never love another man

Pygmalion

• Brother of Dido

• Murdered Dido’s husband in hopes of stealing his wealth

King Iarbas

• North African leader of the Gaetulians

• Mortal son of Jupiter

• Offered Dido as much land as an oxhide would cover

• Dido cut the hide into strips and encircled as much land as possible

• Felt humiliated when Dido rejected his marriage proposal