Pliny's 'Laurentum Villa Complex'

Ancient Rome is one of the greatest and most influential societies in the history of the world. From the basic rules of how the Roman Empire is set up to the infrastructures in the city, the strict hierarchy of Roman social structure can be reflected clearly all over the whole ancient Rome. In fact that “public architecture presents people with the official view of a society and provides the background against which its individual markers live their lives.”1 With the great desire of Roman for entertainment and their special taste for blood, the amphitheatre is considered as the most popular and most representative type of the entertainment building in the ancient Roman culture. And

When Pliny was first challenged with the issue of Christianity in his region, he was extremely confused and worried. He had never dealt with the issue before and so had no prior experience to dwell upon. However, he ended up dealing with them like any other threat to the Roman Empire he had dispensed with. He viewed these individuals as a contagion and threat to the Empire that needed to be distinguished. However, he knew that he did not have the resources or manpower to adequately confront the issue as it had spread not just in the cities, but also to the towns and farms across his region. This leads to the start of multiple letters to Emperor Trajan, so that he could be informed and order what needed to occur.

The study of Rome presents an opportunity to relate the past to the present, and analyze how social behaviors have prevailed overtime through sport. Although sent to their death within the arena, the ancient public of Rome glorified gladiators. They supplied an outlet for the public to visually glorify war and violence, while being able to choose a desired hero to root for. Similarly, the professional football players who play in the NFL

For this essay I wanted to first look into the political aspects of early Rome and explore whether myth was primarily a political tool for power and wealth, starting with the foundation myths of Augustus, I came across a quote “Emperors exploited myths and mythical characters to promote their images and values” (Block 2 pg. 153) and wanted to see weather myth had any involvement in how politician’s first ruled early Rome. I will also look in to Emperor Nero and see how he used myth as a tool to gain public support from his people, and explore how myth had an impact on both men to gain political power and respect. I will then look into

Leisure as a concept is not easy to define, and is subject to differing opinions and class-structure. Where a working-class person may define leisure as a way to display wealth, conversely, the upper class may simply view leisure as a means of having free time away from the demands of work or duties. In Ancient times, leisure was possible, due to the work of slaves and poorer citizens (Price, 2008 p 10). Whilst leisure has always been associated as a pursuit for the wealthy, in the19th century with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, and the development of the railway, this began to change. The working classes had more disposable income, and the opportunity to travel cheaply and experience ‘freedom from work’ (Price, 2008 p 7).

BibliographyCorbishley, Mike. Cultural Atlas for Young People: Ancient Rome. New York: Facts on File, 1989.

Insula. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/technology/insula Becker, J. A. (n.d.).Roman domestic architecture (villa). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/roman/beginners-guide-rome/a/roman-domestic-architecture-villa The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. (2011, May 20).

Even though, Ancient Roman life was revolved or surrounded around working and business or trade, there was also little free time available for freedom to just rest and relax. The Romans sometimes relaxed by watching or interacting with the entertainment and the Olympics. The competitions were varying from swimming to playing board games; to attending theatre performances, athletics and forms of entertainment appreciated by Romans in ancient times weren’t much different from those today.

     Romans enjoyed their games. Common people had reason to cherish the games, because the gatherings

5], is used to portray terror and torment. The symbolism of the frescoes in the form of the maenads, satyrs, Silenus, pan pipes, goats, the thyrsus, and the casting off of masks all suggest that the depictions are indeed Dionysian images.

What point is there in being valued for the length of your pedigree, Ponticus, or in displaying ancestral masks and statues – an Aemilius in his chariot, half of a Curius, a Corvinus lacking one shoulder, or a Galba minus his nose and both ears into the bargain? Why trace back the ramifications of your kinship on that ample chart, through innumerable branches, to smoke-grimed Pontiffs or Masters of Horse, if your own life is a public disgrace? Why have so many portraits of generals around, if you spend the whole night gambling under their noses, and only get to bed at dawn – when they would be up, striking camp, and moving their standards off? Why should a Fabius, though of Hercules’ house, enjoy ancient rights at the Great Altar, being styled ‘Of the

The villa was buried in AD 79 because there was a huge eruption from Mount Vesuvius.1 This led to the destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other areas. Some of the most important wall paintings have fortunately survived and were found at the Roman villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale. This villa was only partially excavated. It consisted of three stories and included baths, agricultural quarters, and an underground passage with a stable. The

As we have seen, the epigraphic sources are not a faithful representation of the whole society of the Roman Era since not all the social groups had the same degree of prominence. Also, the different geographical distribution and the preservation problems add more bias to the epigraphic sample.

The Romans had great architectural works constructed during their era. Sometimes this included the dwellings of individuals. In the following paragraphs, both the simple and more complex dwellings in the city and countryside of Ancient Rome will be examined.

Pliny the Elder (23-79) left medieval and renaissance thinkers with a large assortment of beasts who shared certain human aspects. This belief in monsters formed part of the basis for European conceptions of natives in the New World. When Pliny had a thought, idea or something just to put down he would a document regardless if it was true or not. This leads to the conclusion that he wasn’t always right about what he had written in his natural history. Too much writing lead to Pliny not being able to check his own work. For this is when social construct was somewhat created as an idea put into the minds of Greeks and the romans. Ideas such as evil-eyed Illyrians, one-legged monocoli and animal-human hybrids. He suspected that these monsters