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354 Pages·2015·6.33 MB·English

UCLA
UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title
The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3sp0w5c4
Author
Larsen, Mik Robert
Publication Date
2015

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Los Angeles

The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the

requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy

in History

by

Mik R Larsen

2015
© Copyright by

Mik R Larsen

2015
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION

The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire

by

Mik R Larsen

Doctor of Philosophy in History

University of California, Los Angeles, 2015

Professor Ronald J. Mellor, Chair

This dissertation investigates the cultural imagination of Roman elites regarding poverty
in their society – how it was defined, how traditional and accepted images of poverty were
deployed for rhetorical effect, and in what way elite attitudes toward poverty evolved over
the course of the first century and a half under the Empire. It contends that the Roman
conception of poverty was as a disordered discourse involving multiple competing
definitions which frequently overlapped in practice. It argues that the inherent contradictions
in Roman thought about poverty were rarely addressed or acknowledged by authors during
this period.

The Introduction summarizes scholarly approaches toward Roman perceptions of poverty
and offers a set of definitions which describe the variant images of poverty in elite texts. The
first chapter addresses poverty’s role in the histories of Livy, and the ways in which his
presentation of poverty diverge from his assertion that the loss of paupertas was key to the
decline of the Roman state. The second chapter analyzes rich and poor characters in Roman
declamation, arguing that this genre’s place in education impressed upon young elites a
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vision of the poor citizen as noble and worthy of protection. In the third chapter I investigate
poverty’s place in the literary generation of Pliny, Suetonius, and Tacitus, concluding that
their era saw the advertisement of a frugal, rustic identity among Italian and provincial
aristocrats. My fourth chapter evaluates specifically urban poverty as seen in Roman satire; it
argues that Martial and Juvenal construct their personas as eyewitnesses to poverty, but that
only Juvenal views the Roman poor with compassion. My final section outlines the
representation of poverty and labor in Roman art, concluding that, despite a general absence
of poverty in domestic art, the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian saw a new trend of representing
the poor as ideological symbols on state monuments and addressing their needs in public
policy. The Conclusion suggests that the early 2nd century CE witnessed the increasing
visibility of the poor in elite culture, with aristocrats of the era being more willing to portray
the contemporary poor, and also willing to portray them in a positive light.
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The dissertation of Mik R Larsen is approved.
Ra’anan Boustan
David D. Phillips
Amy Richlin
Ronald J. Mellor, Committee Chair

University of California, Los Angeles
2015

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meo avo
mercennario
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Table of Contents

Introduction___________________________________________________________________1

Chapter One – Livy: Searching for Paupertas in the Early Republic______________________24

Chapter Two – Quid est pauper? Rich and Poor in Roman Declamation___________________90

Chapter Three – Poverty and Provinciality: Looking Downward in the Time of Trajan_______139

Chapter Four – Non est paupertas habere nihil: Poverty in Urban Satire___________________193

Chapter Five – Poverty and Representation in Roman Art: A Preliminary Study____________240

Conclusion___________________________________________________________________283

Appendix: Images_____________________________________________________________288

Bibliography_________________________________________________________________320

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Guide to Images

Section One: Introduction and the Sacro-Idyllic
289 – Tomb of Eurysaces (Kleiner 1992: 106)
290 – l’Ariete smarrito sacro-idyllic scene (Peters 1963: 140)
291 top – Boscotrecase herdsman scene (Ling 1977 image 3)
bottom – Villa Pamphili scene (Peters 1963 image 44)
292 – goat-milking tondo (Donati 1998: 133)
293 top left – Endymion and Selene scene (Peters 1963: 72)
bottom left – Actaeon and Artemis scene from the House of Epidius Sabinus (Peters
1963: 56)
top right – Icarus scene from V.2.10 (Peters 1963: 68)
bottom center – Icarus scene from House of the Priest Amandus (Peters 1963: 79)
bottom right – British Museum Icarus scene from Pompeii (Peters 1963: 111)
294-5 – Villa Farnesina corridor G, landscape with sailors and fishermen (Pappalardo 120-1)
296 – Tomb of Eutychus (D’Arms 1981 image 22)
297 – Harbor scene from Stabiae (Donati 1998: 126, image 15)
298 – Pompeii Nilotic scene (Donati 1998: 127, image 16)

Section Two: Portraits of Labor
299 – Tomb of Longidienus (Clarke 2003: 119)
300 – Fulling scenes from Pompeii VI.8.2 (Pirson 2007: 465)
301 top – Old Fisherman statue (Lawrence 1972 plate 90)
bottom – Market Woman statue (Lawrence 1972 plate 81a)
302 – Emaciated man and woman (Garland 1995 plates 52 and 53)
303 – House of the Vettii friezes (Clarke 1991 217)
304 – continued (Clarke 1991: 216)
305 – Praeda Iuliae Felicis friezes (Beard 2008: 74)
306 – continued (Beard 2008: 73)
307 – Pompeian scene with men carrying yokes (Donati 1998: 125, image 14)
308 – Munich farming relief (Lawrence 1972 plate 81b)
309 – Tomb of the Haterii (Kleiner 1992: 198)
310 – Labors of the Fields at Oudna (Dunbabin 1978: 102)
311 – Agricultural scenes at Cherchel (Dunbabin 1978: 101)
312 – St. Romain-en-Gaul Rustic Calendar scene (Dunbabin 1999: 81)
313 – continued (Dunbabin 1999: 80)

Section Three: The Poor on Imperial Art
314 – Arco di Portogallo adlocutio (Stewart 2003: 114)
315 – Alimentary scene from Arch of Trajan at Benevento (Kleiner 1992: 226)
316 – Alimentary scene from (lost) Arch of Marcus Aurelius, now on Arch of Constantine
(Kleiner 1992: 292)
317 – Adlocutio from Arch of Constantine (Stewart 2003: 115)
318 – Private beneficence bakery scene from Pompeii VII.3.30 (Donati 1998: 136)
319 top – Tomb of Vestorius Priscus (Clarke 2003: 196)
bottom – Tomb of Naevolia Tyche (Clarke 2003: 184)

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Acknowledgements
This dissertation is indebted first and most substantially to the committee of
Ronald Mellor, Amy Richlin, Ra’anan Boustan, and David Phillips, without whose input,
assistance, and oversight this project would have been impossible. Kristie Mann
generously read over various sections of the text; she and Alex Lessie provided advice as
well as emotional support on our long, shared march toward the sea. Claudia Rapp
graciously supervised my early academic progress and broadened my intellectual
horizons. Patrick Geary deserves additional thanks for offering pedagogical inspiration at
an early stage.
Portions of this work were read to audiences at the Classical Association of the
Pacific Northwest in 2014 and at the Classical Association of the Middle West and South
2015: feedback offered there was graciously appreciated and has only improved the
finished product. Debby Sneed and Noel Lenski provided bibliographical help for my
foray into the unfamiliar world of Roman art. Hadley Porter provided invaluable
assistance in navigating through untold layers of bureaucracy with moxie and aplomb.
Many thanks are owed to Danny Richter, Eleanor Rust, Joanna Valentine, Jason Glenn,
Ramzi Rouighi, and others too many to mention who fostered my nascent interest in the
ancient world. My journey through graduate school would have been far less enjoyable
without the companionship, intellectual and otherwise, of Doug Fraleigh, Caitlin Halasz,
Claire Collins, Paul Waite, Pat McCullough, and Kate Craig. Among more distant friends
were William Hembree, Kyle Ackerman, Stephen Radley, and Caleb Holcombe,
everyday heroes whose company I am glad to have shared.
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