possible dissertation topic?

[Raradir]

Ok first off if people saw this post and it just said "Hi I" thats because trying to type on TWC on my Windows Surface it was just spazzing out and wouldn't let me type. Anyway I'm on my PC now and to the topic at hand, so I'm a second year studying archaeology at York, and were having to take seminars dedicated to getting stuff ready for our dissertation, the problem is I still have no idea what to do mine on, I know its going to be something in the Roman period as thats one of my main interests, I was thinking of doing it on frontier settlements in North Africa and the control they had on trade and traffic into the Empire, but then when I mentioned this to one of my professors who specializes in the Roman period he said if I was going to do that, that I would have to talk about Olive Oil production and trade, and after reading alot of books on it and trade in Rome, I wanted to tear my eyes out lol. So I'm thinking of doing it on Prostitution in the Roman Empire, as it seems like a really interesting topic which I can incorporate spatial analysis, gender and osteology into. So what do people think, anyone got any suggestions of interesting areas I can do?

Thanks
Raradir

[Spear Dog]

Osteology? Man, there was a sometimes heated drawn out discussion in the first few weeks after R2TW release, about the relative heights and sizes of 'barbarians' compared to Romans, particularly roman Legionaries. There were several first hand contemporary sources quoted but no-one could come up with any solid comparative data from archeological sources. There is a hole in our factual knowledge of the actual physicality of different groups in the Roman period.

[René Artois]

Ok first off if people saw this post and it just said "Hi I" thats because trying to type on TWC on my Windows Surface it was just spazzing out and wouldn't let me type. Anyway I'm on my PC now and to the topic at hand, so I'm a second year studying archaeology at York, and were having to take seminars dedicated to getting stuff ready for our dissertation, the problem is I still have no idea what to do mine on, I know its going to be something in the Roman period as thats one of my main interests, I was thinking of doing it on frontier settlements in North Africa and the control they had on trade and traffic into the Empire, but then when I mentioned this to one of my professors who specializes in the Roman period he said if I was going to do that, that I would have to talk about Olive Oil production and trade, and after reading alot of books on it and trade in Rome, I wanted to tear my eyes out lol. So I'm thinking of doing it on Prostitution in the Roman Empire, as it seems like a really interesting topic which I can incorporate spatial analysis, gender and osteology into. So what do people think, anyone got any suggestions of interesting areas I can do?

Thanks
Raradir

That sounds really cool provided you can get the info on it. Only trouble I can think of is that concentrating on the Empire as a whole in a decent amount of depth would require reading through lots of dig reports in lots of languages. And even then you might not find a lot to work with. I'd suggest talking to the relevant tutor about it. Good luck anyway - I'm taking archaeology at the moment too (not York though)

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Maybe grain supply? It can fit in trade, osteology and frontier farming as well as inner agriculture.

[Legio]

Let me know if you'd like anything on Classical sex and sexuality; it happens to be one of my concentrations.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

^Hey Chloe? You know of any sources on the Gauls? Particularly their warrior culture; such as their wars and accounts of the fighting style and tactics. Maybe even weapons as well?

I am writing a paper on that, basically I will talk about how the Gauls waged war but also go into how their De-centralized warrior culture made their wars to be mostly raids and not very much actual conquest, which is what I will argue for their less successful wars and why they did not have long term success.

[Markas]

My dissertation was how the Roman Army was supplied during and in the following campaign after the second invasion of Britain. The only real reason I chose it was so I could go out and about to various sites like Lunt Roman Fort when researching the supply of cavalry mounts. Just reading sources would have dimmed my enthusiasm pretty quick.

[Raradir]

Let me know if you'd like anything on Classical sex and sexuality; it happens to be one of my concentrations.

Hey, yea if you could give me any names of books, as I'm trying to compile a reading list, I managed to get a few from my library, but could do with more. Everyone keeps laughing at me that I've decided to do my dissertation on "Sex and Prostitution in the Roman Empire" lol. I just find it really interesting, I like the darker side of history, the everyday people, anyway yea if anyone has any sources on either sex, prostitution or brothels in the Roman Empire let me know

Thanks
Raradir

[Legio]

That is a wonderful topic!

Are you more interested in text or images? History, historiography, doxography, or epic poetry? You can glean a lot about Roman mores from their literature. A quick reading list off the top of my head. If you want dirty pictures, dirty poems, etc. you will have to hit me up off-site; most of my work at university breaks the Obscene Content rule.

Craig Williams' Roman Homosexuality
John Clarke's Roman Sex
Susanna Elm's Virgins of God
A.M. Keith's Engendering Rome: Women in Latin Epic
Ovid, Stanley Lombardo, trans., Metamorphoses
Vergil, Stanley Lombardo, trans., The Essential Aeneid
Peter Brown, The Body and Society
Antigone Samellas, Alienation: The Experience of the Eastern Mediterranean
Amy Richlin, The Garden of Priapus
James Davidson, Courtesans and Fishcakes (this one is about Athens, but the introduction may still inform your research)

Stay away from works by John Boswell--they are a bit simplistic and come off as 'EVERYONE WAS GAY'--and take care when reading translations. Authors often take liberties and impose their own values on texts. Keep in touch about your progress, though, and let me know how we can speak about some images. Be very careful with older books, which tell you more about their author's opinions on sex and sexuality than those of the Greeks and Romans. Also, be suspicious of Foucault.

[Raradir]

Wow thanks Chloe +Rep coming your way, I'm just writing out a "dissertation Title Form" for my seminar later, do you know if any of those sources have any chapters on prostitution, as I think I'm mainly goin to focus on that, heres what I have so far on this form I'm writing out.......


Degree Programme: BA in Archaeology


My Research Question/Title:

“The World’s Oldest Profession”, How can archaeological evidence help us to identify and understand prostitution in the Roman Empire?



Aim:
A look at prostitution in the Roman Empire, and how it can be seen using archaeological evidence




Objectives:

• · To provide a brief history of sex and prostitution in the Roman Empire
• · Look at structural evidence of brothels in Pompeii
• · Study documented evidence of prostitution from scholars of the time
• · Look at how gender and spatial analysis played a part in brothels
• · Examine possible human remains associated with brothels and prostitution e.g Yewden Villa, Buckinghamshire and Ashkelon, Israel
• · Look at artefacts such as Spintria (Roman Brothel Tokens)

Significance:

This topic is significant to the following groups:

• · Roman Historians
• · Gender Archaeologists
• · Social Historians

[Legio]

Let me know what you find about spintria; they are rather interesting. Did you know that you can buy replicas on Etsy for twenty-five dollars?

Roman Sex, Roman Homosexuality, Virgins of God (kind of--it's a monograph about female asceticism), The Garden of Priapus, and Courtesans and Fishcakes all deal with prostitution. I include Roman Homosexuality because it also includes resources on male prostitution. You will find lots of dirty poetry to help you out. I'm so happy for you! If you were doing Classical Athens I'd also recommend Trying Neaira and the Deipnosophistae--alas, you are not!

[Raradir]

Let me know what you find about spintria; they are rather interesting. Did you know that you can buy replicas on Etsy for twenty-five dollars?

Roman Sex, Roman Homosexuality, Virgins of God (kind of--it's a monograph about female asceticism), The Garden of Priapus, and Courtesans and Fishcakes all deal with prostitution. I include Roman Homosexuality because it also includes resources on male prostitution. You will find lots of dirty poetry to help you out. I'm so happy for you! If you were doing Classical Athens I'd also recommend Trying Neaira and the Deipnosophistae--alas, you are not!

Yea I saw you could buy them when I was looking for books the other day, I'm tempted to get some lol. I'll see if my library has any of those books, this might be a long shot, but do you know of any Romans who wrote or mentioned prostitution?

[Legio]

The Amy Richlin book I mentioned above has quite a lot on prostitution. So does the Williams book. Both quote Greek and Latin poetry involving prostitutes.

[Raradir]

The Amy Richlin book I mentioned above has quite a lot on prostitution. So does the Williams book. Both quote Greek and Latin poetry involving prostitutes.

Awesome, thanks very much, I'll definitely keep in contact with you about this topic if thats alright, as you seem very knowledgeable on the subject. I got the biggest laugh in my seminar the other day when I told the rest of the group I was going to do this subject lol

[Legio]

Please do keep in touch--I'd be more than happy to help! Most importantly, have fun; it's a rich subject.