The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome

Considers why ancient Roman literature was so preoccupied with immorality, and what this articulates about Roman culture.

Catharine Edwards (Author), Caroline Vout (Foreword by)

9781009464062, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 March 2025

276 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.561 kg

'Shows how central the theme of sexual immorality was to political discourse in ancient Rome.' Rebecca Langlands, Professor of Classics, University of Exeter

The question this book addresses is not how immoral the ancient Romans were, but why the literature they produced is so preoccupied with immorality. The modern image of immoral Rome derives from ancient accounts which are largely critical rather than celebratory. Far from being empty commonplaces, these accusations constituted a powerful discourse through which Romans negotiated conflicts and tensions in their social and political order. This study proceeds by a detailed examination of a wide range of translated ancient texts, exploring the dynamics of their rhetoric, as well as the ends to which they were deployed. Roman moralising discourse, Edwards suggests, may be seen as especially concerned with the articulation of anxieties about gender, social status and political power. This revised edition contains a substantial new Introduction which engages with critical and scholarly developments in the study of Roman culture since the original publication.

Foreword
Preface
Introduction to the Cambridge Classical Classics edition
Introduction
1. A moral revolution? The law against adultery
2. Mollitia: reading the body
3. Playing Romans: representations of actors and the theatre
4. Structures of immorality: rhetoric, building and social hierarchy
5. Prodigal pleasures
Bibliography
Index locorum
Index of subjects and proper names.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1]