Viria the slave.
Personajes:
Tema: Social status. The daily shift.
Competencias
Competencia en Comunicación Lingüística
Competencia Personal, social y de aprender a aprender
Competencia Ciudadana
Competencia en conciencia y expresiones culturales
Materias y cursos por Sistema Educativo
España > Cultura Clásica > 1º ESO > Raíces clásicas del mundo actual. Vida cotidiana
Enunciado
Viria Acte, born in Valentia Edetanorum, present-day Valencia, ca. 90 AD, was an extraordinary woman who, having been a slave, became a successful businesswoman. She was the owner of a statue workshop that she run herself and that became very prestigious. She received many compliments and honours due to her work and her contributions to the city of Valencia.
Reading of a fragment belonging to a fictional story that recreates Viria's life as a young slave (our own translation of García Guerrero, Eva (2017). “Aras y estelas”. 30 mujeres fascinantes en la historia de Valencia. Valencia: Vinatea).
Reading, reflection, search, debate. Creation of a daily shift.
I-Read the proposed text carefully and then answer the questions.
[…] My little Viria –continued Dominica-. Being a slave like you, I carded, spun, worked the wool from dawn to dusk. Later, in my lord Ursino's villa, I folded, stored, and cared for the clothes. Mine was patched over and over again. He was a just owner, but I hated so much becoming intimate with him! I hated it so much that I still don't know how I gave him my body for years, until at last he chose a younger slave and agreed to free me. Trust me, avoid getting drunk. Pamper your beauty beyond your freedom. Love who you want and who you don't want, take him away from your side.
Reflect on the role of Dominica, the slave:
1- What jobs did she perform?
2- How long was her daily shift? Do you think she had days off?
3- Do you think she had her own money? What is your answer based on?
4- What consideration does Dominica have with respect to her owner? Do you agree with her?
5- And the owner with respect to his slave?
6- In addition to the tasks inherent to her condition as a slave, what else was Dominica forced to do? Do you think that was something she had to do because she was a slave? What does it mean to you? With what still very current and unfortunate situation would you compare this fact?
7- Look up the word manumission in the dictionary and write its meaning.
8- When did the owner free Dominica?
9- What very important advice does Dominica give Viria?
10- Summarize the traits that you think characterize the social class of slaves.
II- Invent a female character who belongs to the social class of slaves. Give her a name. What would her workday be like? What jobs would she do on any given day? What time would she get up, have breakfast, eat, go to sleep...? What would her meals consist of? What would her clothes be like? To recreate your character and her journey, keep in mind that there were slave cooks, babysitters, laundresses, weavers, etc.
Observaciones y contexto
1- Observations
Viria Acte's past as a slave gives rise to the study of social classes in Rome, the conditions suffered by slaves, the jobs they were engaged in and the situations to which they were subjected, as well as the situation and role of the woman of servile condition.
This activity can relate to each and every woman of any age. It has been attributed to the subject of classical culture of 1st of ESO because it is considered that critical thinking can begin to be encouraged in the students of this level, although it could also be done in other classical culture levels, in the Block corresponding to Classical roots of today's world. Everyday life, related to the role of women, social classes or work or also in the Block The present of Latin civilisation of the subject of Latin.
2- Context
One of the key factors which led to the greater independence of Roman women in the Imperial period was their ability to own and manage their own money.
The epigraphy of Roman Hispania in the 2nd century offers numerous examples of professions carried out by women who were also, in some cases, owners of their own businesses. To cite just a few names, we can find wet nurses (nutrices), such as Secundilla (Gades) or Clovatia Irena (Emerita Augusta); hairdressers (ornatrices), such as Philtates (Lucus Augusti, Lugo) or Turpa Thyce (Gades); menders (sarcinatrices), such as Latinia Da[.... ] (Corduba); professionals related to the production, dissemination and trade of olive oil, especially in Baetica, such as Accilia Felicissima, Caecilia Charitosa, Cornelia Placida or Caecilia Trophime, among many others; owners of land in production, such as C. Plancia Romana (Fiñana, Almería) or Aurelia Iuventiana (Arauzo de Torre, Burgos); owners of artisan workshops of all kinds _from gilding, textile and footwear workshops to the manufacture of marble pieces, like our Viria Acte _, such as Aurelia Vivia Sabina (domina fabricae marmorariae) (Terena, Portugal), Cornelia Cruseidis (domina inauratoris) (Tarraco) or Valeria Severina, who was also patroness of the guild, (domina fabricae textilis et calceamenti) (Segisama Iulia, Burgos) to women who practised medicine and obstetrics, such as the Hispanic Julia Saturnina (Emerita Augusta) or later women, such as those belonging to other times and places, Primila, Empiria and Venuleya Sosis, qualified as medici; Salustia Ateneis, obstetrix; Naevia Clara, medicaphilologa or Aurelia Alexandra Zozima, cited ‘for her medical knowledge’.
We also find other professions: caementarius (bricklayer): Iulia (Conimbriga, Coimbra); purpuraria (manufacture of purple): Baebia Veneria (Gades); lintearia (weaver or linen merchant): Fulvia (Tarraco); pictor or pistor (painter or baker): Caecilia M [...] (Maresme, Barcino), etc.
Descripción
It is proposed to read a text and answer a series of questions, as well as to start a debate that compares the social situation of Roman women with the current situation suffered by women.
Recreation of a daily shift, inventing a female character belonging to the social class of slaves.