The Ass, The Witch, And The Roman Empire - 1232 Words

The Ass, the Witch, and the Roman Empire: Roman Society in The Golden Ass Apuleius’ The Golden Ass is the oldest Latin novel from around the era of the Roman Empire to survive in its entirety. Because of this fact, it means that this novel is a source of great insight into a first hand account, albeit with fictional prose, of Roman society through the eyes of a well-endowed male, Lucius, the narrator of the novel. Through his travels and his various encounters along the way, both as a man and an ass (not mutually exclusive) we get to experience the many aspects of Roman society and culture. Through the novel, we get to experience their societal attitudes concerning gender, sexuality, and violence. Although, The Golden Ass is written as a fictional prose, for example – there’s no historical evidence of bestial transformations in the Roman Empire, the base of the storytelling in which Apuleius writes from can be seen as a semi-realistic representation and accounts of Roman society at its peak and give us insight into their views on sexuality and gender. In Roman society males dominated and had almost complete control over the entirety of their families. Everyone’s life was on a string and the patriarch of the household held the scissors that could easily cut that string. Almost from the start of the novel we get painted an accurate portrayal of this clear cut gender division and misogyny evident in Roman society. Lucius enters a relationship with Photis, a slave girl heShow MoreRelatedEurope s Inner Demons By Norman Cohn1486 Words   |  6 Pagesdevelopment of anti-human conspiracies. He discusses how these â€Å"fantasies† were gradually tied to Christians and eventually how they influenced the European witch-hunts. It can be difficult to decipher his exact thesis as his preface itself seems to function as one large thesis. However, his thesis overall seems to be that â€Å"the great witch-hunt became possible when these practices and experiences were interpreted in terms of the traditional stereotype of the clande stine, systematically anti-humanRead MoreAbuse Of Power In Candide, By Voltaire1523 Words   |  7 PagesBaron, ‘and I shall not permit such insolence from you. With that disgrace at least I shall never be reproached. My sister’s children could never enter the highest ranks of German society. No, my sister shall marry none but a baron of the Holy Roman Empire.’† (138) the baron devaluing Candide as he asks him politely to marry his daughter Cunegonde. He sees it as a level of disrespect that he asks him that because he would want the best for his daughter so he hates the fact of knowing that someoneRead MoreEssay on Fall of Asclepius95354 Words   |  382 Pagesblowing through the trees and the creaks in the house. It was kept Thomas on his toes. After turning the lights in the house off, Thomas crawled into his warm bed and was soon asleep. * * * * * Duncan watched late night comedy shows laughing his ass off. He checked the clock and saw that it was midnight. Duncan went into the kitchen to grab a snack from the fridge. His little sister, Katrina, sat at the table reading a book. A bit late for a snack? she said. Im starving, he grumbled