Negative Attributes of Old Society

Negative Attributes of Old Societies

Starting out, you have to compare the negatives of the Polis from Medea to the negatives of the “romanitas” from Ovid. There were many negatives that we saw and read about in the book of Medea. The main negative was the state power. Of the state power there was the Bureaucrats, Politicians and the Lawyers. These three groups of people had the entire control over what would happen in their society. Even though Medea was a very loyal woman to her husband Jason, she resented the state power and in turn Jason gave her up. Jason was very loyal to the state power of the elites. Both of them were very loyal, but loyal for two different causes. Here is a quote from Jason explaining why he came to Corinth,

“When I came here from Iolcus as a stateless exile, dogged and thwarted by misfortunes -- why, what luckier chance could I have met, than marriage with the King’s daughter? It was not, as you resentfully assume, that I found your attractions wearisome, and was smitten with desire for a new wife…”(pg 33).

He is explaining that the only true reason why he came to Corinth was to potentially marry the King’s daughter and rise to fame. The Polis revolved around this state power, and Medea was a great example of that.

On the other hand, romanitas had many negative examples of Roman society. Romanitas is defined as “Roman-ness” or in other words, their state identity in Rome. The Roman society was based on the piusness of their people, as well as the imperium. Another word to describe the Romans would be auctoritas, which was their inherited, personal prestige that translated into social and political influence. There were many similarities between the two societies actually. The stor...

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...onasteries. You could also say that monkishness played a role in the spreading of monasteries during the ruling of Clovis and Charlemagne. Clovis was said to have created the idea of Merovingian Culture and the Merovingian Empire. He was the king of land that would be turned into what we know as France today. Later on after Colvis came Charlemagne who was just as influential with his movement. He was a part of the Carolingian Empire and was the oldest son of Pepin the Short. The year that he bacame king was 768 after his father had died. Many people called him the “Father of Europe” and it was said that he united western europe. Since both of these rulers were religious people, Dominus and Civilitas were very important parts of their cultures. The spreading of monasteries just heightened the effects of Dominus and Civilitas on their societies at the time.