Assignment:
Question 1. What roles were women expected to play in Roman society? To what extent did women challenge those expectations? Does the role of women shift between the Republic and Empire? How do different types of evidence give us different ideas about the roles of women in the ancient world? For example, what are our sources for ideals of beauty and adornment, family roles, literacy and tasks of women, women in business and cult, women’s influence in politics, etc.? Make a claim about the role of women using specific reference to at least three types of evidence (painting, architecture, sculpture, epigraphic evidence/inscriptions, literary, etc.). In your conclusions, address the following: how have different forms of evidence altered your initial ideas, assumptions, or impressions of the role of women in the ancient world?
Question 2. How does our textual and visual evidence for daily life in Rome and elsewhere match up? Where are the significant differences? How does our having these different types of evidence fill out the “bigger picture” of life outside of the elite? Where are there still gaps in our knowledge of Roman life? Choose 2 primary source texts and 2 pieces of material evidence (art/archaeology) to answer these questions. You may choose to focus on one area of life (entertainment, domestic life, politics, etc.) to clarify your response. In your conclusions, discuss how your initial ideas or assumptions about Roman life have changed due to this course.
Write 1 page answer for each of the questions. Write in Size 12 font, double space, times new Roman. Use Ovid: Metamorphoses.