Investigating historical sources
Personatges:
Tema: From Republic to Empire
Competències
Competència en Comunicació Lingüística
Competència Plurilingüe
Competència personal, social i aprendre a aprendre
Competència en consciència i expressions culturals
Matèries i cursos per Sistema Educatiu
Espanya > Cultura Clàssica > 2n ESO > Arrels clàssiques del món actual. Història i evolució sociopolítica
Enunciat
Fulvia symbolizes the antithesis of the Roman matron, who abandoned the tasks socially assigned to women, acting as a ruler, and even recruiting legions. Possibly the classical authors used her figure as an example that embodies the moral degeneration of the end of the Republic.
The historian Dio Casio mentions Fulvia committing an act of cruelty. You must find out, by consulting the net, what motives Fulvia could have felt such hatred towards Cicero that prompted her to commit such an outrage with his head.
And when Cicero's head was sent to them (for when he fled he was seized and beheaded), Antony, after addressing many unpleasant expletives to him, ordered it to be placed in a conspicuous place, more visible than the others, in the tribune of orators, there from where he had uttered so many sophistries against him, and there it could be seen together with his right hand, which had been amputated, and Fulvia took the head in her hands, before it was taken away, and, enraged with it and spitting at him, placed it on her knees, and opening her mouth, tore out her tongue and pierced it with the hairpins she used for her hair, while she taunted him with many cruel infamies.
Our translation from Dio Cassius: Historia romana, BCG-393. Translation by Juan Pedro Oliver Segura (p.80)
a.-Read carefully the text of Dio Cassius, writing down the meaning of the underlined terms. Explain in your own words the event that is narrated and identify the characters involved in it.
b.-Place the text in a historical context. Draw a chronological axis where the most relevant events that occurred between the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Empire are collected (two triumvirates, civil wars and establishment of the first emperor), along with the characters who starred in them. Look for information on Wikipedia about these characters.
c.-Locate or place the protagonists of the text and others that you consider fundamental in the axis, even if they are not mentioned in it.
d.-Investigate and take note of the reasons that Cicero could have given Fulvia to arouse her hatred against the speaker.
Observacions i context
In the eyes of Roman law, women had a legal situation of inferiority compared to men. Thus, law restricted women from participating in public office, such as practicing law, being judges or holding any of the judiciaries.
But the royal Roman midwife was much more than a housewife. Classical sources provide news of women who gained access to the public sphere to make use of their voice, breaking with the traditional role that had been assigned to them. We have received news of the lawyers Carfania and Maesia, of Cornelia, mother of the Gracchus, or of Julius Caesar's own mother, Aurelia. But also about women who were involved in the fight for power, participating openly or in the shade. Examples include Servilia, mother of Marcus Brutus, the orator Hortensia, Clodia the rebel or Livia, wife of Emperor Augustus, without forgetting Octavia, wife of Marco Antonio and sister of Augustus.
These women came to hold the same power as many of the men who ruled Rome. They had great communication skills and political, economic and legal knowledge. The best example of them all was Fulvia.
This activity can be done individually, in pairs or in groups, in a classroom equipped with computers, considering it as a contest.
The activity has been assigned to 2nd of ESO, but it can be adapted to the level of 3rd or 4th of ESO in Classical Culture. It can also be tackled in the subject of Latin of 4th of ESO.
Descripció
The activity consists of reading and analyzing a document by Dio Cassius in which the character of Fulvia is alluded to, outraging Cicero's head, which had been cut off along with his hands. Reflection on the causes that motivated such a cruel act; debate on this procedure.