Social Issues: Our society compared to the Roman Imperial period

There are many parallels in Rome’s Imperial period and society in the United States today. Below are five social issues that affect both. I will discuss equal education, gender identity, abortion, mental health, and immigration.

The matter of equal education is found in Satire 3 where it says, “here let the spruce son of an auctioneer clap his hands, with the smart sons of a gladiator on one side of him and the young gentlemen of a trainer on the other”. This shows that in Rome there were different levels of intelligence among the children of fathers with different jobs and levels of authority. This is like current times because parents that are wealthier can afford to send their children to fancier schools even if they are further away or if they are expensive private or charter schools. Whereas parents that don’t have as much money are stuck sending their children to whatever local school there is, even if it is in a poorer part of town and might not have the highest quality teachers or nice supplies. Satire 3 states, "It is no easy matter, anywhere, for a man to rise when poverty stands in the way of his merits: but nowhere is the effort harder than in Rome”. This is true in our society as well. Statistics show that if you are raised poor you are more likely to be poor as an adult than a person raised wealthier. This leads to the fact that if you go to a poorer school growing up then your children will too and you will have similar educations which is not equal to that of wealthier citizens.

Gender Identity is a large social issue in today’s society. Many children will call other children gay, or other forms of the word, when that child doesn’t act as boyish as society thinks they should. Or if a girl doesn’t like pink and frills, she will be thought of as a tom-boy. Society says that men and women have to act certain ways to be considered a man or a woman. This causes a lot of people that don’t act exactly in line with gender standards to then question themselves and their identity. In Rome, it seems they had similar expectations. Satire 3 states, “compare the scraggy neck of some weakling to the brawny throat of Hercules when holding up Antaeus high above the earth”. Here they are comparing a weak boy to the ideal strong Hercules type man. This is a common comparison in today’s society as well as Rome’s.

Abortion is a large social issue that plagues today’s society as well as Rome’s. Satire 2 states, “how often does a gilded bed contain a woman that is lying in? So great is the skill, so powerful the drugs, of the abortionist, paid to murder mankind within the womb.” In Rome, they would say that abortion was still killing mankind and today’s society is largely at debate on whether it is considered mankind when it is still within the mother’s womb. Both societies struggled with abortion though and both societies had citizens that were very much against it.

“For what good man, what man worthy of the mystic torch, and such as the priest of Ceres would wish him to be, believes that any human woes concern him not? It is this that separates us from the dumb herd…”. This is from Satire 15 and it shows that even in ancient Rome mental health was an issue that was made to seem a smaller problem than it really was. This section makes it seem that this good and worthy man struggles from no mental health issues and that people that do struggle are part of this ‘dumb herd’ that does not affect him. Our society struggles with these views as well. Statistics show that mental health plagues 1 in 5 adults. It seems that most people stigmatize mental illness as something that is bad and makes people seem ‘dumb’ when in fact it is quite normal and common.

Finally, immigration is a social issue in today’s society as well as ancient Rome’s. Satire 3 said, “No: there is no room for any Roman here, where some Protogenes, or Diphilus, or Hermarchus rules the roast--one who by a defect of his race never shares a friend, but keeps him all to himself.” Everyone struggles with people that aren’t born in that location then entering and taking their jobs and such. There is a belief that immigrants aren’t allowed because they won’t respect your culture or they will again take your jobs. This can be true but it can also be false, it also depends on your political beliefs. However, it seems this was a worry in Rome as well as the U.S.

The Genuineness of Greek Gods: Sophocles Views

Greek Gods

Sophocles

In Euripides' Ion, Ion asks, “Is the god genuine or his oracles a fraud?” This was a common question at that time, one that many Greek authors would have had opinions about. Sophocles wrote his opinion on this topic in his play Oedipus Rex in several round about ways. In the play, the main character Oedipus, leaves his family. He does this because a prophet told him that he would one day marry his mother and kill his father. This causes Oedipus to leave in the hopes of avoiding this fate. Oedipus doing this shows that he doesn’t trust the gods. This can cause the reader to believe that Sophocles would believe that the god’s oracles are a fraud. We must keep reading to discover more.

Oedipus Rex

Later a prophet tells Oedipus that he is the one that killed his wife’s husband and instead of believing him, Oedipus gets mad at him. This shows that Oedipus doesn’t believe the prophet which is sharing what the gods have told him. This leads the readers to believe that both Oedipus and Sophocles would believe the gods oracles are a fraud yet again.

Then Oedipus goes on to solve the Sphinx’s riddle about humans. Then Oedipus tells Tiresius (the prophet), “How riddling and foolish is all you say!” (Sophocles Oedipus Rex pg. 26) Oedipus is making it clear that he believes he is smarter than the gods. This shows that Oedipus thinks that humans can think on their own by rationalizing and problem solving meaning that he doesn’t need the gods help, especially if he could solve the Sphinx’s riddle. From this part of the play you can infer that Sophocles is hinting that intellectualism is helpful but that it can make us prideful and blind to the world around us. We get this from that story because the play goes on to prove that the prophecy came true! Even though Oedipus ran from his family it ended up that they were only his adoptive family and he ran right into the arms of his mother, married her, and killed his father. By disbelieving the prophet, Oedipus helped his fate come to be. One can read into this that Sophocles believes that you cannot escape fate. At the beginning of the play Oedipus chooses to not trust the god’s oracles but in the end it hurts Oedipus that he didn’t trust them. 

In the beginning of the play we are tricked into thinking that Sophocles doesn’t trust the gods but then it proves this thought of ours incorrect by showing us that the oracles of the gods came to pass. I believe that Sophocles would answer the question in Euripides' Ion when Ion asks, “Is the god genuine or his oracles a fraud?” by saying that indeed the gods are genuine and his oracles are not a fraud.