Popular culture in Ancient Rome

Roman historians have traditionally concentrated on the elite. This course looks at the lives of ordinary Romans, be they men, women or slaves. By looking at fables, jokebooks, oracles, graffiti and images of many kinds we will see how Romans made a living, kept the gods on their side and even managed to have some fun.

Roman historians have traditionally concentrated on the elite. This course looks at the lives of ordinary Romans, be they men, women or slaves and aims to see how far we can approach Roman history “from below”. Can we begin to describe the cultural world of the “ordinary” Roman? What stories did they tell? What made them laugh? What did they fear? How different were their tastes, cultural preferences even language from those of the elite?  

Most of the surviving texts in the canon of classical literature pay little more than passing attention to the non-elite, and hardly any were written by those who were not part of a relatively narrow group of the elite or well-connected. But there is nevertheless some material – and more than most people imagine – which may offer us a glimpse of the world and world-view of the ordinary Roman in the street. This includes fables, joke books, oracles, graffiti and visual representations of many kinds. All these will take centre stage in this course.

The course will start by considering what we mean by “ordinary Romans”. What levels of wealth or poverty do we mean? What living conditions do we imagine? How “multi-cultural” a group were they? It will go on to explore the character of their popular culture – from the world of the bar and the (communal) latrine to the impact of the gods or the strong arm of the law. But throughout we shall keep in mind the methodological issues at stake. These popular texts are no more transparent than any others; and some of them may not be as popular as they seem.  

We shall concentrate on the city of Rome and Italy, but some material will also be drawn from Roman Egypt, as well as Christian imperial culture. The disjunction between the rural context of many of the richest sources and the metropolis itself will be one major theme of discussion. 

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes for this course are:

• To introduce students to the cultural world of the non-elite in late Republican and imperial Rome;
• To explore a wide range of literary, documentary and visual sources relevant to the cultural world of the non-elite in Roman society;
• To encourage students to reflect on the particular methodological problems in accessing the culture or experience of those outside the Roman elite.  

Classes

1. The problems of daily life
2. Popular religion
3. Having fun
4. Ordinary people in art
5. Popular Resistance 

Typical week: Monday to Friday

For each week of study you select a morning (Am) and an afternoon (Pm) course, each course has five sessions, one each day Monday to Friday. The maximum class size is 25 students. Your weekly courses are complemented by a series of two daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to the learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events.

Evaluation and Academic Credit 

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses. 

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £65 per essay.

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit.

Certificate of attendance

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically within a week of your courses finishing.