Studocu: Theme

Question 1

MEN AND WOMEN: Greek thoughts

Answer 1

Men should contribute to the state politically and on the battlefield. A good man is one who is wise and philosophically inclined, but can also possess military assets. The family line is valued. Women should run a successful oikos, bear children, weave, be dutiful and look after the slaves/family. Especially in Athens, they are often confined to the house, and cannot visit the theatre

Question 2

MEN AND WOMEN: Roman thoughts

Answer 2

Men have a duty to the state in politics and warfare. They are responsible for providing a good heir and, for aristocratic households, for joining the senate and rising the ranks of the cursus honorum. Women should run the households. They are seen as lesser than men, although they do have more rights than Greek women. Men and women can own property and run businesses. Pudicitia is a valuable characteristic for a woman to have.

Question 3

MEN AND WOMEN: Plato

Answer 3

Men should seek after the truth. Men should serve the polis by exhibiting self-control. It is important that women are controlled. Women cannot access higher emotions like men can.

Question 4

MEN AND WOMEN: Seneca

Answer 4

The wise man should avoid pleasures of the body and focus on the needs of the soul. Pleasure distracts from virtue and reason. Humanity is one community, so the same is true for women. Women are just as capable of achieving virtue as men.

Question 5

MEN AND WOMEN: Sappho

Answer 5

Men occasionally feature as figures of fun in Sappho’s poetry. She does acknowledge men, but they are often a distraction or serve as obstacles for her desire. Women are celebrated as independent but also changeable.

Question 6

MEN AND WOMEN: Ovid

Answer 6

Men and women are in battle (or a game) to seduce one another. Both men and women must arm themselves in the battle of sexes. Men are stupid, deceptive and easily influence but in many ways superior. Women can be powerful but are also presented as stupid, lustful or deceptive. Ovid is sympathetic and condemning of both men and women. However the best kind of men are poets/ older lovers.

Question 7

MARRIAGE: Greek thoughts

Answer 7

Marriage should be mutually beneficial- it should bring two good families together for the good of the oikos. It is a political institution and the women has no say in who she marries. Men want to marry to produce healthy male heirs. Women want to marry for financial security and in order to fulfil the patriarchal expectations placed upon them.

Question 8

MARRIAGE: Roman thoughts

Answer 8

Marriage is less concerned with love and more a product of political alliance. Families will often marry their children to wealthier or more influential families as a part of a patron relationship when both parties are seeking to get something out of the deal. The Lex Julia changed marriage laws to be more restrictive of who you can/cannot marry.

Question 9

MARRIAGE: Plato

Answer 9

Plato proposes that marriage should be restructured in the Republic. There is an elision of marriage in the Symposium, potentially due to the homoerotic themes and therefore implying that same sex relations never ended in marriage as marriage may have solely just been for reproduction.

Question 10

MARRIAGE: Seneca

Answer 10

Marriage is a preferred indifference. You should be able to live without it but if you are married it is up to you to make it a good marriage- a bond of pure love, like that of friendship. Marriage van be mutually beneficial and aid your path to virtue and reason but the wise man should not rely on it.

Question 11

MARRIAGE: Sappho

Answer 11

Marriages for Sappho are both cause for celebration and regret as a girl passes from girlhood to adulthood. Some theorise that Sappho is upset when members of her alleged thiasos leave, however she writes about marriage a lot and some of her poems are clearly songs for wedding ceremonies.

Question 12

MARRIAGE: Ovid

Answer 12

Marriage is something to be avoided. Women should instead have fun while they are young and, if they are married, they should find ways to cheat on or avoid their partners. Partners should be suspicious of others and marriage can end in tragedy.

Question 13

SEX: Greek thoughts

Answer 13

Sex within marriage is important for procreation. Women were expected to be virgins when they married. Men could have several sexual relationships, both homoerotic and heteronormative. Sex seems not to be a taboo subject in ancient Greece. However adultery was seen as worse than rape. Sex can be necessary for overcoming the ruinous effects of female hysteria.

Question 14

SEX: Roman thoughts

Answer 14

Adultery is illegal, though men can have sex with infames and slaves. Whilst adultery was illegal under the Lex Julia, it still seemed to have happened and according to Suetonius, the Roman people outwardly rebelled against the Lex Julia. According to the principles of pudicitia, women should only have sex with their husbands. Sex is important for procreation and securing male heirs.

Question 15

SEX: Plato

Answer 15

Sex can be pleasurable and useful for society. Homoerotic sex can lead to production of ideas and knowledge, which was important to Plato. Sex between men and women can lead to having children which to Plato is a form of immortality. However we should not dwell on sex and the end goal is to have transcended bodily passions and appreciate pure Beauty instead- ladder of love.

Question 16

SEX: Seneca

Answer 16

Sex is an indulgence of lust and therefore can be seen as a vice. It can pollute the mind and prevent us from accessing virtue and reason. However Seneca does see a use for sex as it can allow the continuation of the human race.

Question 17

SEX: Sappho

Answer 17

Sex can relieve the pains of desire, or when remembered can overcome loss. Sappho often describes sex via naturual imagery.

Question 18

SEX: Ovid

Answer 18

Sex is the ultimate goal of the game of love. It is fun, frivolous and to be sought at all costs. Sex is recreational, and unlike Plato, does not lead to the production of higher forms. Sex should be exciting and if a relationship is dull, there are things you can do to improve your love life. There is a vast array of sexual positions to try, and Ovid’s description of this can be read as sympathetic to women or misogynistic. Ovid often uses sexual innuendo, so it is something humorous to him too. However, like with anything in the Ars Amatoria, sex is something which can be perfected with the right advice.

Question 19

LOVE: Greek thoughts

Answer 19

Although marriages were arranged, there is evidence for love between couples. Love can be presented as ruinous and destructive in mythology (especially with examples like Euripides’ Medea) but these texts also serve to remind us that love is something which people need to handle carefully to avoid tragedy. In a pederastic relationship, it is expected that the ultimate goal will be the exchange of knowledge for sex, and the question of love rarely comes in to it.

Question 20

LOVE: Roman thoughts

Answer 20

Marriages are arranged, but love can develop between a man and his wife. Examples like Cicero and his wife Terentia show a genuine affection between lovers. Re-marriage is common but further marriage(after the initial arranged marriage) may well have been for love as well as for political gain. Augustus seems to be devoted to his wife Livia, although she is used for propaganda to make his family seem like ideal role models, so it is hard to tell what true love looked like during the Augustan age. Roman love elegists are often consumed with love for their partner’s which can be destructive.

Question 21

LOVE: Plato

Answer 21

Love received many definitions in the Symposium, but ultimately Plato’s idea is that love is philosophy and this is revealed in Diotima’s speech, when love is described as the search for goodness and immortality. Plato is keen show us what love is not (e.g: Aristophanes speech) and he very clearly sees intellectual love as being better than common love. Many scholars see the Symposium as the start of a conversation, and so when we reach the end of the Symposium we can decide who we most agree with. It seems clear though that Plato is clearly swaying us toward Socrates perspective.

Question 22

LOVE: Seneca

Answer 22

Love is similar to friendship. It is sought with no thought of advantage to oneself but rather the advantage of your loved one. In an ideal relationship, you should both seek to improve each other to become more virtuous. You should not be consumed with lust or excessive desire, but should have a genuine interest in the welfare of your partner and their philosophical journey.

Question 23

LOVE: Sappho

Answer 23

Sappho writes about the distress and joy of love. For her it is ‘bitter-sweet’ -a word which she coins. She gives us many examples of love leading to pleasure or to pain. Love can be like war, but it can also bring peace and harmony in one’s mind. Her definition of love is characterised by following your heart, becoming active in the relationship, and embodies a rejection of the masculine, warlike kind of love which has come before in Homeric texts.

Question 24

LOVE: Ovid

Answer 24

Love is a skill that can be taught. Like a game, there are ways to cheat, ways to become better, and there is an end goals of sex in Ovid’s opinion. Once you have learnt the ‘art’ of love, then you can win the battle of the sexes and indulge in your pleasures. But perhaps under all of this humour and bravado, for Ovid, love is best represented via poetry. He consistently promotes the value of poetry and the power of the spoken word.