5.1 Morality and ethics

The way we behave or what we consider right or wrong shape the way our society works and the way we relate with others daily. How to live a good life? What are our rights and responsibilities as citizens and humans? What is good and bad? Questions like these have always sparked debate in societies, often affecting the private and the public life of entire communities, and ancient Greek and Roman debate has generated a large corpus of philosophical writing, hugely influencing how we think about morality and ethics today. Understanding the role morality and ethics had in ancient political and philosophical thought will help you get a better understanding of the role it plays in modern society.

EPQ Suggested Questions

In your EPQ essay you may want to discuss the following questions:

What is the difference between morality and ethics and how far has Greek, Roman and ancient Christian debate influenced the way we debate on right and wrong in modern society?
How far did sexual morality reflected in Roman political thought and affected public and private life during the Republic and the Early principate?
How far has does Aristotle’s debate on ethics innovate from Plato’s?

Sources

Plato Ethics (open link)
Aristotle, Ethics (open link)
Seneca, Ethics (open link)
Grubbs, J.E., 2002. Women and the law in the Roman Empire: a sourcebook on marriage, divorce and widowhood. Routledge.
Johnson, M. and Ryan, T., 2004. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Literature and Society: A Sourcebook. Routledge.

Material culture

Statue of a naked Roman matron as Aphrodite (open 5.1 Aphrodite pdf)

References

D'ambra, E., 2007. Roman women. Cambridge University Press.
Dawson, D., 2018. The origins of Western warfare: militarism and morality in the ancient world. Routledge.
Dixon, S., 2014. The Roman Mother (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Faraone, C.A. and McClure, L.K. eds., 2008. Prostitutes and courtesans in the ancient world. Univ of Wisconsin Press.
Galinsky, K., 1996. Augustan culture: an interpretive introduction. Princeton University Press.
Gardner, J.F., 2008. Women in Roman law and society. Routledge.
Glazebrook, A. and Henry, M.M. eds., 2011. Greek Prostitutes in the Ancient Mediterranean, 800 BCE–200 CE. Univ of Wisconsin Press.
Grubbs, J.E., 2002. Women and the law in the Roman Empire: a sourcebook on marriage, divorce and widowhood. Routledge.
Hubbard, T.K. ed., 2013. A companion to Greek and Roman sexualities. John Wiley & Sons.
Johnson, M. and Ryan, T., 2004. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Literature and Society: A Sourcebook. Routledge.
Kronenberg, L., 2009. Allegories of farming from Greece and Rome: philosophical satire in Xenophon, Varro, and Virgil. Cambridge University Press.
Langlands, R., 2006. Sexual morality in ancient Rome. Cambridge University Press.
McGinn, T.A., 2003. Prostitution, sexuality, and the law in ancient Rome. Oxford University Press
Meeks, W.A., 1993. The origins of Christian morality: The first two centuries. Yale University Press.
Morgan, T., 2007. Popular morality in the early Roman Empire. Cambridge University Press.
Peachin, M. ed., 2011. The Oxford handbook of social relations in the Roman world. Oxford Handbooks in Classics
Prior, W.J., 2016. Virtue and knowledge: An Introduction to ancient Greek ethics. Routledge.
Rawson, B. ed., 2011. A companion to families in the Greek and Roman worlds. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Skinner, M.B., 2013. Sexuality in Greek and Roman culture. John Wiley & Sons.
Thorsteinsson, R., 2010. Roman Christianity and Roman Stoicism: a comparative study of ancient morality. Oxford University Press.
Williams, C.A., 2010. Roman homosexuality. Oxford University Press.

Online resources

Perseus digital library: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/
The Grove Art Online: http://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/