UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3sp0w5c4 Author Larsen, Mik Robert Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Mik R Larsen 2015 © Copyright by Mik R Larsen 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire by Mik R Larsen Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Ronald J. Mellor, Chair This dissertation investigates the cultural imagination of Roman elites regarding poverty in their society – how it was defined, how traditional and accepted images of poverty were deployed for rhetorical effect, and in what way elite attitudes toward poverty evolved over the course of the first century and a half under the Empire. It contends that the Roman conception of poverty was as a disordered discourse involving multiple competing definitions which frequently overlapped in practice. It argues that the inherent contradictions in Roman thought about poverty were rarely addressed or acknowledged by authors during this period. The Introduction summarizes scholarly approaches toward Roman perceptions of poverty and offers a set of definitions which describe the variant images of poverty in elite texts. The first chapter addresses poverty’s role in the histories of Livy, and the ways in which his presentation of poverty diverge from his assertion that the loss of paupertas was key to the decline of the Roman state. The second chapter analyzes rich and poor characters in Roman declamation, arguing that this genre’s place in education impressed upon young elites a ii vision of the poor citizen as noble and worthy of protection. In the third chapter I investigate poverty’s place in the literary generation of Pliny, Suetonius, and Tacitus, concluding that their era saw the advertisement of a frugal, rustic identity among Italian and provincial aristocrats. My fourth chapter evaluates specifically urban poverty as seen in Roman satire; it argues that Martial and Juvenal construct their personas as eyewitnesses to poverty, but that only Juvenal views the Roman poor with compassion. My final section outlines the representation of poverty and labor in Roman art, concluding that, despite a general absence of poverty in domestic art, the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian saw a new trend of representing the poor as ideological symbols on state monuments and addressing their needs in public policy. The Conclusion suggests that the early 2nd century CE witnessed the increasing visibility of the poor in elite culture, with aristocrats of the era being more willing to portray the contemporary poor, and also willing to portray them in a positive light. iii The dissertation of Mik R Larsen is approved. Ra’anan Boustan David D. Phillips Amy Richlin Ronald J. Mellor, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iv meo avo mercennario v Table of Contents Introduction___________________________________________________________________1 Chapter One – Livy: Searching for Paupertas in the Early Republic______________________24 Chapter Two – Quid est pauper? Rich and Poor in Roman Declamation___________________90 Chapter Three – Poverty and Provinciality: Looking Downward in the Time of Trajan_______139 Chapter Four – Non est paupertas habere nihil: Poverty in Urban Satire___________________193 Chapter Five – Poverty and Representation in Roman Art: A Preliminary Study____________240 Conclusion___________________________________________________________________283 Appendix: Images_____________________________________________________________288 Bibliography_________________________________________________________________320 vi Guide to Images Section One: Introduction and the Sacro-Idyllic 289 – Tomb of Eurysaces (Kleiner 1992: 106) 290 – l’Ariete smarrito sacro-idyllic scene (Peters 1963: 140) 291 top – Boscotrecase herdsman scene (Ling 1977 image 3) bottom – Villa Pamphili scene (Peters 1963 image 44) 292 – goat-milking tondo (Donati 1998: 133) 293 top left – Endymion and Selene scene (Peters 1963: 72) bottom left – Actaeon and Artemis scene from the House of Epidius Sabinus (Peters 1963: 56) top right – Icarus scene from V.2.10 (Peters 1963: 68) bottom center – Icarus scene from House of the Priest Amandus (Peters 1963: 79) bottom right – British Museum Icarus scene from Pompeii (Peters 1963: 111) 294-5 – Villa Farnesina corridor G, landscape with sailors and fishermen (Pappalardo 120-1) 296 – Tomb of Eutychus (D’Arms 1981 image 22) 297 – Harbor scene from Stabiae (Donati 1998: 126, image 15) 298 – Pompeii Nilotic scene (Donati 1998: 127, image 16) Section Two: Portraits of Labor 299 – Tomb of Longidienus (Clarke 2003: 119) 300 – Fulling scenes from Pompeii VI.8.2 (Pirson 2007: 465) 301 top – Old Fisherman statue (Lawrence 1972 plate 90) bottom – Market Woman statue (Lawrence 1972 plate 81a) 302 – Emaciated man and woman (Garland 1995 plates 52 and 53) 303 – House of the Vettii friezes (Clarke 1991 217) 304 – continued (Clarke 1991: 216) 305 – Praeda Iuliae Felicis friezes (Beard 2008: 74) 306 – continued (Beard 2008: 73) 307 – Pompeian scene with men carrying yokes (Donati 1998: 125, image 14) 308 – Munich farming relief (Lawrence 1972 plate 81b) 309 – Tomb of the Haterii (Kleiner 1992: 198) 310 – Labors of the Fields at Oudna (Dunbabin 1978: 102) 311 – Agricultural scenes at Cherchel (Dunbabin 1978: 101) 312 – St. Romain-en-Gaul Rustic Calendar scene (Dunbabin 1999: 81) 313 – continued (Dunbabin 1999: 80) Section Three: The Poor on Imperial Art 314 – Arco di Portogallo adlocutio (Stewart 2003: 114) 315 – Alimentary scene from Arch of Trajan at Benevento (Kleiner 1992: 226) 316 – Alimentary scene from (lost) Arch of Marcus Aurelius, now on Arch of Constantine (Kleiner 1992: 292) 317 – Adlocutio from Arch of Constantine (Stewart 2003: 115) 318 – Private beneficence bakery scene from Pompeii VII.3.30 (Donati 1998: 136) 319 top – Tomb of Vestorius Priscus (Clarke 2003: 196) bottom – Tomb of Naevolia Tyche (Clarke 2003: 184) vii Acknowledgements This dissertation is indebted first and most substantially to the committee of Ronald Mellor, Amy Richlin, Ra’anan Boustan, and David Phillips, without whose input, assistance, and oversight this project would have been impossible. Kristie Mann generously read over various sections of the text; she and Alex Lessie provided advice as well as emotional support on our long, shared march toward the sea. Claudia Rapp graciously supervised my early academic progress and broadened my intellectual horizons. Patrick Geary deserves additional thanks for offering pedagogical inspiration at an early stage. Portions of this work were read to audiences at the Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest in 2014 and at the Classical Association of the Middle West and South 2015: feedback offered there was graciously appreciated and has only improved the finished product. Debby Sneed and Noel Lenski provided bibliographical help for my foray into the unfamiliar world of Roman art. Hadley Porter provided invaluable assistance in navigating through untold layers of bureaucracy with moxie and aplomb. Many thanks are owed to Danny Richter, Eleanor Rust, Joanna Valentine, Jason Glenn, Ramzi Rouighi, and others too many to mention who fostered my nascent interest in the ancient world. My journey through graduate school would have been far less enjoyable without the companionship, intellectual and otherwise, of Doug Fraleigh, Caitlin Halasz, Claire Collins, Paul Waite, Pat McCullough, and Kate Craig. Among more distant friends were William Hembree, Kyle Ackerman, Stephen Radley, and Caleb Holcombe, everyday heroes whose company I am glad to have shared. viii A final thanks must go to my family: Cynthia, Guy, and Kim Larsen, as well as my grandparents Nada and Bob Dusslier. To my grandfather I have formally dedicated this work. To him and the rest of my family I owe what understanding I do have of the value of labor honestly done. I am glad that their faith in me was not unfounded after all. ix Vita Mik Larsen -Education C. Phil., History, UCLA, January 2013 M.A., History, UCLA, July 2011 B.A., History and Classics, University of Southern California, June 2008 -Honors, Awards, and Distinctions UCLA Cota-Robles Fellowship (2008-2013) UCLA History Dept. Dissertation Year Fellowship (2014-5) UCLA Friends of History Award (Spring 2013) Graduate Summer Research Mentorship (Summer 2009; Director: Claudia Rapp; Topic: Patterns of Epistolography in Classical and Late Antique Letter Collections) -Presentations “Poverty and Provinciality: New Frugalitas in Flavian Rome,” presented at the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, 3/28/2015 “The Poor Man’s Aequitas: Social Class and Justice in Roman Declamation,” presented at the Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest, 3/15/2014 -also presented at the UCLA Classics Graduate Workshop 4/9/2014 “Slaves, the Poor, and the Permeability of Citizen/Slave Boundaries in Ancient Rome,” presented at ‘Slave-Citizen-Human’, Brown University Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, 10/18/2013 “Making the Invisible Visible: Non-Elite Sources for Roman History,” presented to the UCLA Classical Society, 1/31/2013