What constitutes the basis for someone behaving courageously, in Greek and Roman society? Do these differ? How, and why?
Description
Your essay response must discuss in detail at least three of the primary source texts we have read during the term.
Must include discussion of the Iliad and the Aeneid.
Primary sources:
Homer, Iliad
Tyrtaeus, Elegies
Plato, Laches
Vergil, Aeneid
Livy, The Early History of Rome Books 1-5
Propertius, Elegies Book 4
Plutarch, selected lives
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, selections from Antiquitates Romanae
Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings
Aurelius Victor, De viris illustribus
Secondary sources:
Balmaceda, C. Virtus Romana: Politics and Morality in the Roman Historians. Chapel Hill, NC.
Coulston, J. ‘Courage and Cowardice in the Roman Imperial Army’. War in History 20 (1): 7–31.
Earl, D. C. The Moral and Political Tradition of Rome. Ithaca.
Eisenhut, W. Virtus Romana. Munich.
Farinella, V. ‘La colonna Trajana: un esempio di lettura verticale’. Prospettiva 26: 2?9.
Goodenough, W. Culture, Language, and Society. Menlo Park, CA.
Harris, W. ‘Readings in the Narrative Literature of Roman Courage’. In S. Dillon and K. Welch, eds., Representations of War in Ancient Rome, Cambridge.
Heim, F. Virtus: ide?ologie politique et croyances religieuses au IVe sie?cle. Berne.
Hölscher, T. The Language of Images in Roman Art. Cambridge.
Langlands, R. Roman exemplary ethics. Cambridge.
McDonnell, M. Roman Manliness: Virtus and the Roman Republic. Cambridge.
Milhous, M. Honos and Virtus in Roman Art. PhD dissertation, Boston University.
Noreña, C. 2Imperial Ideals in the Roman West. Cambridge.
Pollman, K. ‘Ambivalence and moral virtus in Roman epic’. In: Freund, S. and Vielberg, M. (eds.) Vergil und das antike Epos, Stuttgart.
Rate, C, What is Courage? A Search for Meaning, New Haven.
Rosen, R. and I. Sluiter. 2003. Andreia: Studies in Manliness and Courage in Classical Antiquity. Leiden.
Rosenstein, N. S. 1990. Imperatores Victi: Military Defeat and Aristocratic Competition in the Middle Late Republic. Berkeley, CA.
Sarsila, J. ‘Some aspects of the concept of virtus in Roman literature’. Studia Philologica Jyväsklläensia.
Scarre, G. On Courage, Routledge.
Settis, S. ‘La Colonna: strategie di composizione, strategie di lettura’. In — et al., eds., La colonna traiana, Turin. 60?129.
Weinlich, B. ‘Virtus and elite identity’. Latomus 16: 259?76.
What constitutes courage (vs. cowardice) for the Greeks and Romans?
In what sorts of situations can an individual be described as courageous?
What aspects of a person’s character contribute to their courage (vs. cowardice)?
What actual conditions, especially of military training and organization, contribute to the courage of Roman soldiers in battle? And how, in practical terms, was valorous behavior encouraged, and cowardly behavior discouraged or indeed punished?
In what sorts of ways do Greek and Latin authors characterize these concepts, especially metaphorically?
What is the relationship of courage to notions of ‘manliness’?
Does the ancient world have a concept of moral courage?
