Looking for ordinary Romans

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? And it will go on to explore the character of their 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.