Western Michigan University History Professor Anise Strong says she wrote her new book on Roman history to “get beyond this idea that there are these rigid categories of good and bad women.”
Strong’s book is called Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World. She tells WMUK’s Andy Robins that prostitute is a term that refers to a profession but Strong says during the Roman empire, it first became used as a term to mean a “bad woman.”
Strong says that included “any women who were stepping outside of what elite Roman men viewed as appropriate roles for women.” She says it’s important to remember that most history of ancient Rome was written by the elite minority of men who could read and write, and also get their work published.
Strong says women had more influence in Rome than in other societies at that time. They were allowed to own property, and managed finances significantly on their own. They could also attend school and divorce their husbands. Strong says that led to women having more freedoms. But it was still a patriarchal society where women could not vote, or hold political office.
"For pretty much any Roman historian that means that looking at the modern world today and the modern United States is a little bit terrifying"
Asked about the lessons of the Roman empire that are relevant today, Strong says the Roman republic’s collapse into dictatorship was caused in part by economic inequality. She says there was an increasing population of poor, desperate people who were separated from the wealthy, and did not see good options in their lives. She says Comparing Rome to the Untied States today is “a little bit terrifying.”
Strong says the idea of the Roman Empire is still interesting to people for a couple of reasons. She says for Americans the idea of a powerful, cosmopolitan, diverse empire is very fascinating. But Strong says in movies and TV, the Roman empire also serves as a warning to America of what can happen by becoming too imperialist or decadent.
