The Culture of Ancient Rome Revealed through Its Leisure - Coursework Example

Leisure in the Roman villas: The culture of Ancient Rome revealed through its leisure Introduction There are many aspects of culture than can be studied in order to create a sense of the people who live in a region with commonalities. One of the more poignant studies of a culture concerns their leisure time. In coming to an understanding of leisure a researcher can discover the things in life that a culture hold to be most important. In looking at ancient Rome and the life in their villas an understanding of that period of time can be reached. The philosophies of the period combined with the attitudes that were adopted toward work and leisure reveal important aspects of that culture. In an examination of the leisure of ancient Rome, vital aspects of the culture are revealed and examined for philosophical content. Leisure and Culture According to philosopher Josef Pieper (2009), leisure is the basis of culture. How a culture chooses to spend its time is directly relevant to how it will work towards having that time. Pieper (2009, 20) quotes Aristotle in that leisure is the center of life around which all other activities revolve. Through the concept of what one chooses to do comes the idea of what one must do in order to be able to facilitate that desire. The way in which the modern world defines work and leisure is far different from that of the ancient world. These concepts have evolved in ways in which work has become the center of life rather than the facilitation of life. Studying leisure allows for an understanding of what a culture values. How time is spent outside of the necessities of life allows for an evaluation of what aspects of life are most important. According to Toner (1995, 7), the way in which leisure is experienced will “express Leisure in 3 beliefs about a desired order of things, and simultaneously reflect the order as it actually stands”. Leisure time reflects not only what is desired, but the status of how things actually exist. In creating a study on ancient Rome, looking at the way in which leisure time was defined and the philosophies that are associated with it can create a larger point of view on the culture of the region and period. A study of leisure can reveal what it meant to be Roman in the ancient period. As in any other culture, leisure represented what was considered the good life. Being able to attain leisure created a certain level of status. According to Toner (1995, 8) “Leisure discourse was integral to ideas concerning the ordering of society and the worth of the individual within it”. This is conceptually similar to modern society and the point of view that reveres the financially successful over the financially strained. This suggests that it requires financial success to truly experience leisure. However, success that allows for leisure can be measured not on how much money is spent to acquire the experience, but in how much that time is spent in a quality of experience. Hard Work and the Roman The concept of labor was contemptuous to the Roman citizen. Most likely because of the use of slavery as a source of workers, the Roman looked down on hard work as a sign of being a lower being (Toner 1995, 22). The way in which the upper classes in Rome viewed their sense of freedom in which to pursue leisure activities reveals the way in which the patrician class would identify themselves. This concept of the division of the classes has remained throughout Western culture. The entitled attitude of those of a certain birth or a certain success creates a sense of Leisure in 4 difference in the way in which they should be treated, the way in which they should view their daily responsibilities, and in the way in which life can be associated with a sense that without ‘help’, servants who take on the less pleasant and time consuming aspects of life, the privileged could not survive. According to Toner (1995, 23), it is prudent to question the general idea that the elite were the only ones to consider a point of view from which to discuss the concept of leisure and through whom to define all of culture. It is folly to associate work with slaves, military consequences with soldiers, and leisure with the elite. These aspects have stronger associations with these groups, but that is not the totality of their life. A slave can find a way to create leisure time through allowances of time that is not considered belonging to their responsibilities. Leisure is not only defined through a concept of decadence. Sociological ideologies do not belong only to the elite. A culture is made up of the philosophies that pervade its society rather than those imposed only by those with the most resources. It is true that those with the most resources have the luxury of leaving evidence that is easily acquired, but evidence can be found in the archeological remnants of a society in items as simple as a pottery shard. Therefore, it is important to remember that an entire society will have impact on the philosophy of a culture. Creating a reasonable sense of a society must allow for the many aspects and points of view that are created within that world. Epicureanism The philosophies of Epicureanism were based on a somewhat hedonistic aspect of considering the goals of life. Epicurus believed that the goal in life was to find peace and Leisure in 5 pleasure with the intent of creating a tranquil sense of life. Epicurus believed that the good in life was the pleasure that was attained within it. In creating his philosophies, he neutralized the concept of the divine, imbuing in man the aspect of free will and encouraging the enjoyment of this life rather than expectations associated with the next. Epicurus did not believe in an afterlife, but believed that with death there was finality. There was a pervasive belief in gods, but that they were not integrated into the human experience in a direct relationship (Hadot 2004, 115). He believed in the experience and the voice of the ’flesh’ through whom needs were spoken for which the person needed to respond. Concepts of food and sleep were voiced through the ’flesh’ which also would hunger for pleasure. However, most often when the flesh was seeking pleasure, it would not find it. Therefore, it was necessary for the individual to be taught how to experience pleasure and how the simple things in life related to these pleasures (Hadot 2004, 114). Through these philosophies the basis of the Roman concept of pleasure and leisure were developed. In the search for the tranquility that was epitomized through Epicurus, the pursuit of leisure was deemed a necessity. However, the concept of right has created a problem within the materialistic philosophies of Epicurus. According to Wilson (2008, 203) who quotes Leibnitz, “What is good and right….is not what men prefer and choose, or even whatever they perceive will bring them the most tranquility, security, and happiness”. Cicero agreed with this belief system, asserting that “True law…summons to duty by its commands and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions”. He goes on to describe that there is one God who will be the dictator of this true law and that it is through this aspect of morality that right will prevail over materialism (Wilson 2008, 203). Leisure in 6 Leisure in the Villas The rural villa of ancient Rome can be associated with the concept of the modern summer house where one could get away from the rigors of city life. Living in the villa was not seen as appropriate until one reached an age where ’retirement’ from city life would seem appropriate. Villas were at the center of agricultural production and were therefore considered to be a place where one not only rested the mind, but was available to work the land and interact with the natural world in producing agricultural products. The villa was a financial investment as well as a retreat that could provide income through a well managed staff (Marzano 2007, 96). However, for many great thinkers the villa was a place to house grand libraries and create great writings. Marzano (2007, 87) provides examples of Lucullus who kept at his villa Tusculum an enormous library made up of the items he collected throughout his military career and during his campaigns. He also discloses that Cicero kept libraries in four of his villas and penned many of his greatest writings within the solitude of the country. Both Cicero and Horace suggested that the villas of Rome were comparable to the Greek gymnasia where discussions of philosophy and academic pursuits could be conducted in an appropriate environment. The pursuit of intellectual stimulus was one example of the uses of the villas in ancient Rome. The villas were also places where the Roman elite could not only participate in rural life in agriculture, but could go on great hunting trips. Marzano (2007, 100) states that hunting became part of the ideological and fundamental pursuits at the villas during the second century A.D. Before the time of Trajan there are few if any references to the activity of hunting where the concept becomes prominent in art and literature during this century. There becomes a symbiotic Leisure in 7 relationship between the pursuit of the hunt and the pursuit of intellectual discourse. This may be due to the fact that the writers of the time are responsible for relaying the experience, but the historical referencing appears to create a philosophical connection between the two pursuits. According to Marzano (2007, 101), there was a difference between the way in which pleasure was pursued in the maritime villas in relation to the agricultural villas. Where the pursuits of the agricultural villas were aimed more toward the peaceful tranquility of the country, the maritime villas were places of hedonistic pleasures. The maritime villas were great houses and landscapes of the elite, created with the utmost opulence and sense of privilege (Butterworth and Laurence 2005, 63). These houses were used for the summer months as retreats that are similar to modern beach house communities. In the same way that modern beach communities develop a ’party’ atmosphere, so too did the maritime villas of the Roman empire. Violence and Entertainment A discussion of leisure must be accompanied by a discussion about the way in which violence played a role in Roman entertainment. The Roman culture used violence and death against both animals and humans as a way of entertaining their people. Death was not imitated or stylized as in an athletic event, but realized through bloody displays of graphic endings to life. Using opposing armies, real battles with actual consequences would be created as well as navel challenges that required the creation of bodies of water in which the fights would take place. The Flavian Amphitheater was opened under Titus who had 100 days of spectacle in which 9000 animals were slaughtered, the deaths of countless people, some of which happened in a sea battle that included flooding the theater and pitting three thousand men against one another (Kyle 2001, Leisure in 8 34). The concept of spectacle grew over the centuries as the need for larger entertainment created a need for more violently wrought concepts of theater. Trajan exceeded Titus when he had festivals in 107 A. D. to commemorate his victories in the Dacian campaigns. 11,000 animals were killed with 10,000 gladiators in battle. These spectacles were intended to both impress and appease the people providing them with visual confirmation of the power of the empire (Kyle 2001, 35). The irony is that most spectacles were funded privately, not by the state, but by the interested parties who chose to create such theater (Trumpbour 2006, 10). Therefore, the dark part of urban life could cross over into the activities of the Roman villa dwellers. The whispers of the depravity of the Roman culture could find a secure hiding place within the villas where things that were best done in private could be appropriately explored. Despite the depravity that is associated with the Roman culture, the truth is that sexual virtue was highly valued. The virtue of a married woman was particularly important to the Roman culture (Langlands 2006, 104). However, the morality of the Roman’s was not constricted by the tenets of the Judeo-Christian heritage. Therefore, the existence of the use of slaves for they were property, the use of children for they had no voice, and the use of women who ended up without men to protect them was not considered illegal. Legality was mostly reserved for wives of men through whom the laws were created and around whom the use of others was not relevant to right and wrong. Conclusion The villas of Rome were used to create sanctuaries in which the pursuit of activities that Leisure in 9 stimulated the mind and body could be enjoyed. Through the philosophies of Epicurus, the pursuit of tranquility through the active pursuit of an understanding of true simple pleasure was considered a duty of each individual in order to attain a higher sense of themselves. The philosophies of the period supported the idea that labor was something that should not be done by those of a superior class, therefore the pursuit of pleasure was part of the elitist point of view of a necessary aspect of health and well-being. Since the concept of the divine was absent from the theories of Epicurus, the morality issues were not subject to the will of a higher power. While the philosophies laid out through Epicurean principles were intended to provide a framework for the natural pleasures of life to be enjoyed, the more depraved aspects of life could certainly be explored. However, writers such as Cicero emphasized that a sense of what is right should dictate what a man or woman should choose within their life. He believed in a divine presence that should be honored through a sense of morality. As well, the sense of right was designed through a sense of commonality of the human experience. Although, one has to wonder if this extended to all people, or just to those who were lucky enough to have landed in the elite class of the culture. While the agricultural aspect of the villas were often left to go to pasture and not be pursued, the intent of owning the country and maritime villas was to secure a retreat and to reveal and show off a sense of wealth to friends and family. While the country villas mostly remained places of agricultural sensibilities, the maritime villas became competitive in creating larger and more opulent homes. The nature of the villa was to be a place to retreat from the world, however, the revelations of the activities reveal much about the culture of Rome. Leisure in 10 References Butterworth, Alex, and Ray Laurence. 2005. Pompeii: the living city. New York: St. Martin's Press. Hadot, Pierre. 2004. What is ancient philosophy? Cambridge (Mass.): The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Kyle, Donald J. 2001. Spectacle of death in ancient Rome. Langlands, Rebecca. 2006. Sexual morality in ancient Rome. Marzano, Annalisa. 2007. Roman villas in central Italy: a social and economic history. Columbia studies in the classical tradition, v. 30. Leiden: Brill. Pieper, Josef, and Josef Pieper. 2009. Leisure: the basis of culture ; The philosophical act. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. Toner, J. P. 1995. Leisure and ancient Rome. Cambridge [England]: Polity Press. Trumpbour, Robert C. 2006. The new cathedrals: politics and media in the history of stadium construction. Sports and entertainment. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. Wilson, Catherine. 2008. Epicureanism at the origins of modernity. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Read More