Lucretia and Dido are both viewed as ideal Roman women. The story of Lucretia is found in Livy’s Early History of Rome, while Dido is written about in The Aeneid by Virgil. By looking at Roman values, the story of Lucretia, the story of Dido, their similarities and differences, a background of Livy and Virgil, as well as the similarities and differences of Virgil and Livy’s views toward them, Dido and Lucretia can be seen as exemplary Roman women.
Roman society operated under the authority of paterfamilias. Paterfamilias is where the oldest living male of the family was considered to be the father of the household; he had “virtual life and death authority over the entire household” (MPN, 107). He would make the all the decisions in the family, and made the rules and standards, including the moral standards that women were expected to follow. Ideal Roman women were valued for their piety, modesty, performance of womanly duties, and faithfulness to their husbands. In both their stories, Lucretia and Dido do what is necessary to maintain their image of the ideal Roman woman.
The story of Lucretia begins with men boasting about their wives, trying to determine who is the best of them all. It is clear to them that Lucretia is the winner when she is found “hard at work by lamplight upon her spinning” (Livy, 100). She then moves on to be a gracious host to all of these men, again showing success in her womanly duties. Later that night one of the visitors, Sextus Tarquinis, comes into her room, and forces himself upon her, telling her that if she does not comply he will make it look like she had an affair with on of the servants (Livy, 101). She yields to him because she does not want it to seem as if she had an affair and n...
... middle of paper ...
...n their stories at first, but by the end they both praise them for their ability to act with the virtues that every Roman woman should strive to act with.
Overall, the Dido and Lucretia exemplify what it means to be an ideal Roman woman. They uphold the values that Virgil and Livy find most important. Dido does this through her solution to her offenses, and Lucretia by her ability to look past personal status and focus on the well-being of Rome.
Works Cited
Livy. The Early History of Rome: Books I-V of The History of Rome from its
Foundation. Trans. Aubrey de Selincourt. Intro. R.M. Ogilvie. Preface and Additional Material by S.P. Oakley. London: Penguin Books, 2003.
Matthews, Roy T., F. De Witt Platt, and Thomas F.X. Noble. Experience Humanities.
New York: McGraw Hill, 2014. (MPN)
Virgil, The Aeneid, Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage Books, 1990.
Another woman who was also affected negtively by the will of the gods was the lovely Dido, queen and founder of Carthage. Upon the arrival of Aeneas and the beginning of their love affair, she is consumed by a love brought on by Cupid that was “...inward fire eating her away” and sh...
Many articles in learned journals refer to Livy’s rape of the Sabine women as a myth, but I believe a kernel of truth shines through this supposed fiction to reveal how the aggressive and selfish character of the early Romans imposed themselves on the lives of unknowing, innocent Sabine women. In 715 BC, Rome was experiencing rapid expansion so Romulus, the current leader, faced a problem in his ambition to increase the population. There existed no intermarriage among neighboring communities and consequently, the Romans felt resentful. Due to a shortage of woman, the Romans actually faced extinction at this time. So Rome staged a celebration of the Consualia, a festival in honor of Neptune, patron of the horse. Citizens came from nearby towns such as Caenina, Crustumium, Antemnae, and all the Sabines. However, when the show began, all the able-bodied Roman men rushed through the crowd and seized all the young women. As a result, war broke out between the Sabines and the Romans and it was the woman who actually emerged to unite their husbands and fathers, blaming themselves for the war (while they were the true victims). Livy claims that the nature of a women’s heart caused them to sympathize with their husbands, who had kidnapped them and taken them from their homes. “The men, too, played their part: they spoke honeyed words and vowed that it was passionate love which prompted their offense. No plea can better touch a woman’s heart” (Livy 44).
The time is the sixth century, the place is Rome and the person is Lucretia, a woman who contributed to one of the biggest parts of Roman history: the creation of the Roman republic. The rape of the virtuous Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of Tarquinius Superbus' (an Etruscan king) was the final straw for the Roman people and pushed them to want to change from a monarchy to a republic. From the accounts of the rape of Lucretia from ancient historians like Livy, Cicero and Dionysius, it is clear that Lucretias rape not only spurred the roman people to want to get rid of the Etruscan King and his family, but also revealed the important role of virtue in women in roman society.
Greek and Roman women lived in a world where strict gender roles were given; where each person was judged in terms of compliance with gender-specific standards of conduct. Generally, men were placed above women in terms of independence, control and overall freedom. Whereas men lived in the world at large, active in public life and free to come and go as they willed, women's lives were sheltered. Most women were assigned the role of a homemaker, where they were anticipated to be good wives and mothers, but not much of anything else. The roles of women are thoroughly discussed in readings such as The Aeneid, Iliad, Sappho poetry, and Semonides' essay.
The Aeneid, by Virgil, is an epic poem about dedication, love, pain, and kindness. Aeneas is Trojan that is loyal and dedicated to his country. His heroic action is shown when he carried his father on his back and his son by the hand. I chose to write about this poem because it shows how one character can change dramatically. Aeneid is a great Roman leader that is cares for the safety of his people. He turned down the love of his life to go fulfill his destiny. He was destined to be in Italy. This poem is structured the same way as modern literature. Virgil’s use of the three female characters in the story: Venus, Dido, and Juno depicts power and the decisions women encounter that can change the way they are seen by society.
Dido is a significant character when it comes to Western Literature; Interestingly enough, Virgil characterized Dido as a successful queen of a city (Carthage). This is important when it comes to gender roles because Dido is a female character that is one of power and status, which was unheard of in ancient society and literature. Women were usually depicted as servants, trophies, or temptresses, and if the women were depicted as goddesses, they were characterized as spiteful, tempting, and emotional. Virgil uses foreshadowing when Dido compares her love for Aeneas to be like fire (which is how she ends up dying). Given this foreshadowing and despair, through Dido, Virgil still depicts women/Dido as being too emotional and caring, such as how
In both The Aeneid and Inferno, Queen Dido of Carthage falls victim to predestined damnation. On the one hand, Virgil sees Dido as a notable queen who has fallen victim of fate's fickle nature. On the other hand, Dante Alighieri depicts Queen Dido as nothing but a treacherous creature. Within Dante’s Inferno, more importance is given to Dido’s lustful facet than to the fact that she committed suicide, and should therefore, be in the seventh circle of hell. Though Virgil and Alighieri existed in different time periods, both authors made of queen Dido the embodiment of women as a whole: a representation of lust. In other words, queen Dido represents the notion that women are responsible for the fall of humankind. Because of her lust, Dido manages
This emphasis is notably unique from the portrayal of couples among contemporary societies such as the Greeks and Romans. This depiction of couples reflects the essential role woman clearly held in Etruscan society. “Women in Etruria participated more fully in the public life of than Greek and Roman women. They had their own names, and passed rank on to their children (Bonfante xx-xx).” Etruscan women enjoyed the same equalities as men such as hereditary possession and having their own identity not solely confined to traditional roles of women in surrounding areas. Etruscan women could afford to provide financially for any children born to them, due to the Etruscan cultural setup. The independence that Etruscan women relished did not take away their nurturing nature as many other societies including the Romans believed.
As the Roman Empire was founded around 27 BC, the wealthy women in its society started breaking the boundaries of domesticity. Kristina Milnor, in her book, Gender, Domesticity, and the Age of Augustus: Inventing Private Life, suggests that women even played an “indispensable symbolic role in the emergence into public discourse of an ‘imperial’ private life” in the environment. However, when women advanced in society, other Romans combatted this progress by reducing them to emotionally vulnerable beings who should therefore be submissive towards men. Furthermore, Virgil emphasizes the sexist ideas of Roman society through characters like Dido, Amata, Lavinia, and Anna in his poem, The Aeneid, which was published around 19 BC. Virgil’s works
The Aeneid is an epic poem written by Virgil that has rightly achieved great fame through its 2,000 years of existence. Through its 12 books and 9,896 lines, The Aeneid tells of its antagonist, Aeneas, handling love, loss, war, and religion. In “Book IV” especially, Virgil makes specific mentions of Aeneas’s heroic style of leadership and how he compared to others with similar power. This category of “other leaders” includes the controversial Queen Dido of Carthage. After hosting a feast in his honor, Queen Dido falls madly in love with Aeneas and he quickly reciprocates her emotion. Through the tumultuous period of time after, the two get married, rule their kingdom, feud with one another, and eventually die tragic deaths. While Virgil follows
In all of ancient world history woman are mentioned very little in history usually you hear various men doing these courageous things on how they lived, what they conquered and how they were treated. But for woman you really don't know what's happening with them. As we take a look at what the Greek and roman woman we will be able to see what type of lifestyle they lived and the difference between each other.
Women were often subjects of intense focus in ancient literary works. In Sarah Pomeroy’s introduction of her text Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, she writes, “Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information” (x). It is evident in literature that the social roles of women were more restricted than the roles of men. And since the majority of early literature was written by men, misogyny tends to taint much of it. The female characters are usually given negative traits of deception, temptation, selfishness, and seduction. Women were controlled, contained, and exploited. In early literature, women are seen as objects of possession, forces deadly to men, cunning, passive, shameful, and often less honorable than men. Literature reflects the societal beliefs and attitudes of an era and the consistency of these beliefs and attitudes toward women and the roles women play has endured through the centuries in literature. Women begin at a disadvantage according to these societal definitions. In a world run by competing men, women were viewed as property—prizes of contests, booty of battle and the more power men had over these possessions the more prestigious the man. When reading ancient literature one finds that women are often not only prizes, but they were responsible for luring or seducing men into damnation by using their feminine traits.
Ancient Rome has long been one of the most influential historical societies of our modern world. Women during the era of the Roman Republic were not considered to be as important as their male counterparts. “Defined by the men in their lives, women in Ancient Rome were mainly valued as wives and mothers” (PBS, 2006). Legally, they had limited rights and were not permitted to participate in public life or in politics. In religion, women were only influential and had rights if they were a Vestal Virgin. Despite these labels and restrictions, Roman women still managed to have an exhaustive influence on Roman history. In fact, they have historically been responsible for the rise and fall of nations, the upbringings of their families, and have
The women of Othello have different characteristics, yet all share one common bond. Desdemona is submissive, but loyal and true to the men in her life. Emilia thinks quite low of her husband and is a strong, smart, assertive woman. Bianca knows her place in society and was unfortunate to succumb to a life of prostitution. However, all these women share the same knowledge, which brings them together as females. They all live under a harsh patriarchal society that does not allow them to think and act freely and naturally as men do, even though unlike the men, they know they are of equal human qualities.
Munson Deats, Sara. “The Subversion of Gender Hierarchies in Dido, Queen of Carthage.” Marlowe, History and Sexuality. Ed. Paul Whitfield White. New York: AMS Press, 1998.