Freedom Reigns: A Brief History of Roman Values, Women's Rights, and the Cento in Ancient rome
Loading...
Authors
Shattuck, Whitney
Issue Date
2008
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
In the early years of Christianity a new form of literary composition
appeared. This genre is known as a cento, which according to M.D. Usher
comprises "poems made up entirely of verses lifted verbatim with only slight
modification" from ancient poets such as Virgil and Homer. Unfortunately, only a few examples have been discovered. Included within those few examples are
centos written by women, which is unusual, given that we have very few
examples of women's writing from the Roman Republic and early Empire. Thus,
I have a two-fold interest in this literary genre: my project seeks to be both a part
of the classical tradition, taking the cento as my model, and to write as a woman,
focused in a field that infrequently valued female contributions. My interest was
founded on the idea of writing a play in an ancient tradition and after doing some
research, I decided that the cento would be the perfect combination of my
interests in ancient literature and the rights of women within society. Roman
women and their place within society has always captured my attention, and
when I found a literary genre represented largely by female authors, I thought it
would be appropriate to write a cento, as a woman, on a woman who stands for
herself, displaying the qualities of a perfect woman. My project will therefore
discuss the role and rights of women from ancient Rome through the fourth
century CE, followed by a history of the cento, which dates back to the first
century BCE, and the women that wrote them. The study will culminate in my
own construction of a cento regarding a Roman female who displayed the
generally male characteristic of virtus, which was considered to be the most
important quality in ancient Rome for men.
Description
iii, 56 p.
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.