describe or name roman values..?

Question

actually no, im n/a n/a

Answer 1

dignitas
“value, self-worth”


pietas vs. superbia
“piety, respect for the gods” vs. “haughtiness, hubris”


virtus (< vir)
“courage, virtue” (< “man”)


fides
“trustworthiness, loyalty”


gravitas
“seriousness of purpose”


pater familiae and patria potestas
“father of the household” and “the power of the father”


familia
“household”


mos maiorum and novus homo (pl. novi homines)
“tradition of the ancestors” and “new man” (first in family to hold consulship)


patricii vs. plebes
“patricians” vs. “plebeians”


optimates vs. populares
“traditionalists” vs. “populists”


libertas vs. servitus
“freedom” vs. “servitude”


otium vs. negotium
“leisure” vs. “occupation”


frugalitas vs. luxuria
“frugality” vs. “luxuriousness, debt”


agricultura vs. latifundia
“small family farms” vs. “large estates”


res Latinae vs. res Graecae
“Latin affairs” vs. “Greek affairs”


religio Romanae vs. religio alienae
“Roman religion” vs. “foreign religion”






Roman nomenclature


men
Marcus Tullius Cicero
praenomen nomen (family name) cognomen

women
Tullia (Tullia Prima, Tullia Secunda)
feminine form of nomen

slaves
Tiro
single name

freedmen
Marcus Tullius Tiro
praenomen and nomen of owner + name






Transmission of family values



· connections to mos maiorum
genealogy, nomenclature, death masks and ancestor busts, tombs and rituals






Transmission of state values



· physical setting
forum (temples, monuments, public space), historic sites (Rostra, Servian wall, house of Romulus), inscriptions (fasti)


· ritual
political (elections, Senate and assembly speeches, courtroom trials), festivals, triumphs and ovations, spectacles (gladiatorial, chariot racing, theatrical)


· personal contact
patroni (“patrons”) and clientes (“clients”)


· literature
histories, poetry and exempla (“models of behavior”)



moral principles of the ancient romans
Remember - things change over a thousand years. The Romans of the early Kingdom, the ones who started off as sheep and cattle farmer- fighters during the war season were a restrained, austere, lot. The ones who wallowed in relative wealth with several slaves to look after them were quite different, even genetically.

Laws and the sort of morality delivered from a pulpit always recalled the good old days when Romans, true Romans, led their austere life. Sticking to moralist tradition at the service of the greatness of Rome was a lovely idea, loudly upheld by the likes of Cato the Elder (234-149BC) but the reality was quite different. In various occasions the possibility of restricting luxury, display of luxury, the amount spent on banquets and feasts was the subject of serious scrutiny, but even in the few cases where laws were established it was soon clear that their enforcement was nigh on impossible.

General Conduct and Morality in Ancient Rome
Let's start off by understanding that the Roman concept of indecency was different from our own. There were things which to the Romans were indecent which we wouldn't necessarily understand whilst there were others which would seem quite normal whilst for us, at the beginning of the 21st Century they seem quite off. In other things they were possibly at a stage we are only just getting to, for example acceptance of homosexuality.

One of the greatest moralists was Cato mentioned above and yet he advised landowners to rid themselves of old tools, old cattle and old or sickly slaves. Eventually this attitude towards (sick) slaves changed but not until some 200 years later, and even then it was probably driven by cost concerns. In fact laws were eventually issued by which a slave could publicly complain about mistreatment and by which families of slaves had to be kept united. But it took time.

The "phallus" was decent and quite commonly found in a vast variety of everyday situations. Or better said, the phallus was a symbol of fertility and "plenty" and as such was quite commonly used as a sort of luck charm. A triumphant general might even have a phallus as part of the decoration of his chariot on triumph parade, a ceramic phallus might be walled in above your front door and you might even hang one in your home or shop as a sort of chandelier with lots of oil lamps hanging off it. This was clearly a very male oriented society!

Another instance is that of public nakedness. For example many didn't take kindly to the customary naked dancers on stage at religious festivities such as the Floralia to celebrate the coming of Spring - reputedly associated with a rich prostitute but more probably related to an ancient Sabine goddess (remember the Sabines were a neighbouring tribe which came to form part of early Rome). This attitude extended itself to athletics, working in the fields or military exercises: a loin cloth was worn rather than display public - pubic - nudity. Unexpected huh?

A fundamental problem of course was the leaders' or Emperors' own conduct, including that of their own families. You can preach but you can hardly expect to enforce restraint when the highest authorities are openly leading a life of perdition. In the late Empire, Emperor Heliogabalus was even said to hang out naked in an attempt to pick up men who might be passing by. Emperor Nero was said to have lost his head for a boy who looked very much like his late wife Poppea - he had the boy castrated and proceeded to marry him. With a little effort the exotic examples abound but they are by no means the average man's norm. I suppose the Emperors' problem might be absolute boredom unless they found themselves something worthwhile to do and unfortunately there were numerous examples of the bored (and psychotic) sort. Apart from anything else, power corrupts especially if you are the law, leading authority and chief priest.

The man on the street was most likely to have some form of marriage arrangement linked with a corresponding difficulty of divorce: Various forms of marriage accepted in Roman law. It wouldn't be unusual for men to have an extra marital affair or two but it tended to be "only sex", given that Roman wives (in difference to the wives of the Greeks) had a fair degree of liberty and would therefore be freer to act as the husband's companion of leisure. Remaining faithful was relatively unusual. A tomb inscription goes as far as remarking: "He remained faithful to one wife for forty years".

Towards the end of the empire the concept of remaining faithful to one's spouse became very much associated with the Christians who were growing in number but not always well seen by their fellow Romans and were referred to as the lot who were stupid enough to share everything except their wives.

Although it was a little more dangerous for women to play truant, they too often added a bit of zest to their lives with lovers. The erudite Seneca (who apart from anything else was disgusted by the futile shedding of blood at the Colosseum) believed that a husband might regard himself lucky if his wife were contented with no more than two lovers. Emperor Claudius' wife has remained on records for her habit of sneaking off at nights in order to go to work in a brothel till morning and then returning to the palace, reeking of smoke and her cheeks coloured but still dissatisfied.

The scandal of the Dea Bona goddess was particularly famous. In January of 61BC Julius Caesar's second wife Pompea was apparently caught attending a women-only religious celebration with her lover. It just so happened that she was chief priestess. Scandal, but Caesar didn't press charges. He divorced, found himself another wife and made a political ally of his ex wife's lover. He married his third wife Calpurnia shortly afterwards. Caesar too threw himself about: A little effeminate in his mode of dress (which wasn't well accepted by morality) and obviously keen on both men and women. Caesar as opportunistic as ever made use of his supposed descent from Venus as well as Mars part of his propaganda. It was said of him that he was "... every wife's man and every man's wife".

This was an insult in fact, because for the Romans what was defining was the detail of whether you were the passive or active half in the couple. Passive was shameful and as such women were at an obvious disadvantage. The passive homosexual partner was likely to be discharged from military service whilst the active partner had no problems. Passiveness was more closely related to slavery.

Similarly, little would be said about a pater familias family head who, unable to satisfy his sexual appetite with his wife and women slaves, decided to have a good go with the boys also - at worse he might be regarded as being somewhat effusive.

In order to put everything into some sort of context we ought to have started by putting all of what has been said (in a relatively superficial manner) into a more solid context: what exactly do we mean by "Morality" and what might the ancient Romans regards as defining "Moral Principles"? If we relate moral conduct to that set of social behaviours which the Romans maintained were demanded of them by "the Gods", then we can say that the Romans had a relatively strict and formal code of conduct which was codified in law. We should also remember that in the "olden days" of Rome religion and law were under the same roof. By law there was a specific heading of fines and public finances, such as fines for (excessive) usury, which were destined for public works or purposes of a religious sort: As if to right the wrong which had been done to the gods and people of Rome.

The historian Tacitus gives us a good example of this moralist attitude. After describing the great fire of Rome he went on to describe how Nero took it out on the Christians in order to divert rumors from himself. Tacitus goes on to refer to the Christians as "the notoriously depraved Christians" and that in spite of their leader Christ having been executed in Tiberius' reign "the deadly superstition had broken out afresh, not only in Judaea but even in Rome. All degraded and shameful practices flourish in the capital." This probably refers to the generalised idea amongst fellow Romans that the Christians regularly practiced incest, as they were all brothers and sisters, and that their religious meetings involved cannibalism. Right or wrong, they clearly had a good idea of what they intended by degraded and shameful practices. ie even the non Christianised Romans had clear notions of morals.

Answer 2

Piety, honor and manliness. At least the old Romans. The old Romans did not pray that their children would have wealth, long life, power, or even happiness. They prayed only that their children would grow to be good men and women.