Classical Love and Relationship Notes
Contents
Welcome! .................................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Men and Women ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Men and Women Modern Scholarship ................................................................................................................. 9
1.2 Plato on Love and Desire ............................................................................................................................ 10
Plato Symposium Notes ............................................................................................................................... 15
Plato Modern Scholarship ............................................................................................................................. 20
1.3 Seneca on Love and Desire ........................................................................................................................... 21
Seneca Modern Scholarship ............................................................................................................................ 28
1.4- Sappho ................................................................................................................................................ 30
Sappho’s Poetry Quotes............................................................................................................................... 40
Sappho Modern Scholarship ........................................................................................................................... 49
1.5 Ovid .................................................................................................................................................... 51
Ovid Ars Amatoria Quotes .......................................................................................................................... 65
Ovid Modern Scholarship.............................................................................................................................. 77
Love and Relationship Summaries ........................................................................................................................ 81
Comparisons............................................................................................................................................. 81
Plato .................................................................................................................................................... 83
Seneca ................................................................................................................................................... 86
Sappho .................................................................................................................................................. 91
, Welcome!
Welcome to my notes! These were used when I was completing the Love and Relationships
module of my A-Level in Classical Civilization for the OCR exam board. There may be a
few spelling errors, but as far as I know everything is as it should be.
Before we start, here are some additional things I found useful for you:
1. The link to the 2019 examiners report
(https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/622779-examiners-report-love-and-relationships.pdf)
2. The link to marked pieces of work from 2019
(https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/630536-love-and-relationships.pdf)
3. The link to the quizlet I made alongside these notes
(https://quizlet.com/fleurcasson/folders/classical-civilisation-love-and-relationships/sets)
I hope you find everything in here useful and get the grades you want! Lets start with some
Laws you can use in your exam to show off some knowledge.
Laws
Greek- Pericles’ citizenship law in 451 states that a baby born in Athens would only be
considered a citizen of the city if both his father and mother were Athenian citizens.
Rome- The benefits of marriage were institutionalised when in 18BC Augustus passed the 2
Julian laws. These aimed to encourage marriage and the birth of children:
He instituted a tax on unmarried adult citizens, regardless of gender, something that was not
terribly well received. Unmarried people also couldn’t accept legacies from wills. He also
loosened the restrictions on who could marry whom, restricting only senators, their children,
and grandchildren from marrying freed persons (slaves who had their freedom granted). He
encouraged remarrying, though he wanted there to be a period of time to avoid issues of
paternity of children.
Related to these were his laws relating to childbearing. If a freeborn woman had three
children, she would be considered sui iuris and would no longer require a guardian. The
same applied to freedwomen, though they had to produce four children rather than three.
Lastly, Augustus was very concerned about the problem of adultery. One of Augustus’ Julian
laws on marriage punished parties found to be having extra-marital sex. His laws go into
detail regarding who can kill someone they catch in the act and under what circumstances
they may do so. Anyone convicted of adultery was to be punished with a loss of goods and
exile to an island. A husband whose wife was convicted was expected to divorce her or be
prosecuted as a pimp.
, 1.1 Men and Women
The Ideal Qualities of Men and Women
Greece
Men:
Involved in the life of the city. He would be the head of the oikos (the household, including
other family, slaves, property and possessions), help keep Greece secure by giving his opinion
in the assembly and serving as a solider. Achilles is advised to be a ‘speaker of words and
doer or deeds.’ This reflects the expectations for men. Doing everything in moderation was
also extremely important for men.
Women:
Greek women were expected to be fertile (the point of a marriage was to have an heir) and
fidelity (the heir had to be legitimate) This is why women were barely let outside, and the
women’s quarters were at the top/back of the house- Greek men were trying to make it harder
to break in and get to their women. Athenian vases which have women in them show them at
the stages of a man’s life: birth, marriage, war, and mourning his death. Real women could
only leave the house for religious festivals and a few other occasions.
This importance for fidelity and fertility is summarised in the Greek marriage, where the
father of the bride would say: ‘I give you this woman for the ploughing of legitimate
children.’ Looking at women in Greek plays can illuminate these expectations. The Odyssey
had Penelope, who was a faithful wife that gave birth to a male heir, controlled the majority
of her slaves and wove well. Andromache also did these things. Statues also show this. The
grave stele (a sculpture with an image/inscription) of Hegeso showed a woman choosing from
her jewellery box offered by a slave girl. Hegeso is beautiful, richly dressed, and had lots of
jewellery. She’s in a domestic sphere and she’s suggesting the wealth of her family.
Beauty for women was also important, yet it was tricky. Helen and Pandora were beautiful,
and as a trait it was desired in a woman and feared. The fidelity of a beautiful woman was
always called into question. In Praxiteles’ statue of Aphrodite, the model has been said to
overturn a law court decision by exposing her breasts. Thus, beauty and sexuality for woman
was powerful, and increased the anxiety men had that women were weak-minded and enjoyed
sex too much. Teiresias- who has been both man and woman- agreed with Zeus that women
enjoy sex more. It comes up in comedies a lot- like how in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (411BC)
the women of Athens and Sparta struggle not to have sex to stop the war.
Rome
Men:
For Roman men, virtus (courage) was the defining concept, which they learnt about through
stories of their ancestors. An upper-class man was expected to be active in the politics of the
cities and its territories.
Men would be expected to climb up the cursus honorum (the system of political office,
which was elected every year), and they began this with serving in the military. Public
speaking was also crucial, as this would be used to win votes during elections, plead legal
causes in law courts and command soldiers in the field. Rhetoric was taught as the last stage
of a Roman boy’ education, much like in Greece.
Women:
Women in Rome had the concept of pudicita (‘chastity’) at the centre of their lives. This was
especially prevalent for the upper classes, as stories of mythological women often praise this
virtue and condemn promiscuity. They were expected to be virgins and only sleep with their
husbands.
Tough, women were not only child-bearers. They were also expected to have a strong role in
running the household and managing business interests. The ideal woman was frugal and
capable.
Statues of Roman women were usually clothed but with thin stolae (typical dress for Roman
women). Reference the Statue of Livia, wife of Augustus, who exemplifies this. The pudicita
remained intact, but there was a hint of sexuality.
, ANCIENT SOURCE (ROME): Turia’s funeral eulogy: ‘you beat them back successfully and were
able to defend our home.’
The Relative Status of Men and Women Domestically, Civically, and Legally-
Greece
Men:
Domestically: A kyrios (the head of the Greek oikos) had great power within the oikos.
Divorce wasn’t that hard for a man. He would surrender the dowry and could choose if he
wasn’t to keep his children.
Civically: As democracy spread through Greece in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, all freeborn
men were expected to take an active role in expressing opinions in the assembly, standing for
election, and voting.
Legally: They were free.
Women:
Domestically: A woman needed for her father/guardian to take her back and provide
fanatically again in the event of a divorce. A free Athenian girl would have an arranging
marriage, arriving in her new home as an outsider. This gave her a conflicting position as she
was relied on to maintain the family line but couldn’t be fully trusted within the oikos. She
would take up the day-to-day administrative care of the house but would be watched by the
husband. This means the woman was controlling the income of the oikos. Organising the
slaves, working wool, and raising the children. As infant mortality rates were high (as many
as ½ of all children didn’t survive past their childhood) women spent most of their lives post-
marriage attempting to become or stay pregnant.
Civically: Women, slaves, and children were barred from voting for standing in elections.
Legally: They were legal property of a man always, whether that is a husband or father or
brother.
ANCIENT SOURCE (GREEK): Xenophon’s Oeconomicus How to train your wife: ‘my wife is
completely capable of running my household affairs (…) What could she have known when I married
her, since she wasn’t fifteen years old when she come to me, and in the time before that lived such a
protected life than she saw and heard as little as possible, and asked the fewest questions?’
Rome
Men:
Domestically: A Roman household came under the legal power of the paterfamilia (the male
head of the Roman household). He wielded the patria potestas (legal power over all
members of the family until he died).
Civically: They were expected to contribute to the military and politics of the
Republic/Empire.
Legally: They were under the legal control of their father, until their father died and then they
became head.
Women:
Domestically: If a man died leaving no male heirs to take over as paterfamilia then his wife
would take a similar role, though she would usually have male relatives to advise her. During
divorce, she would lose custody of her child unless she could prove that her husband was
unfit to rear them. A marriage woman would be expected to run the household, meaning she
managed the slaves, made clothes through spinning and weaving, looked after and educated
the children, and helped her husband with business interests. She would also present in the
house when her husband had guests to show modesty and virtue. Since men left for military
campaigns for years, women were expected to be able to run the household and family
businesses without their husband’s presence.
Civically: Women couldn’t hold public office, vote, or serve in the military. Although
sometimes wives of important Roman generals accompanied them to military campaigns.
They did have a significant influence on men in political offices through their relationship
with them (such as Livia, wife of Augustus, who often aided him in the running of empire). A
woman might gain a role in the politics of Roman through marriage. Inheritance would be
