Date of Award

6-2020

Document Type

Union College Only

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Classics

First Advisor

Hans-Friedrich Otto Mueller

Keywords

latin epigraphy, iberian, italian, epitaphs, roman culture, social status, gender, women

Abstract

Throughout history and historical literature, women are typically portrayed and depicted as inferior to men. In addition, social status becomes very obvious when looking at records or other artifacts. In order to investigate the roles played by gender and social status in ancient Rome, I translated and analyzed Latin funerary inscriptions from both the Iberian and Italian Peninsulas. This allowed me to make discoveries in a genre other than elite literature. Specifically, I looked at epitaphs from Roman Spain and Italy to find connections between the language and tone in the original Latin and societal values. Using different databases from around the world, which provided physical descriptions and images of these inscriptions, I translated the Latin epitaphs into English and then analyzed them in regards to the diction, syntax, decoration, material, etc. The results show that there is a clear distinction between males and females in these inscriptions, and while there is still a distinction between varying social levels, this difference is less pronounced on inscriptions in stone.

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