Work, Identity, and Legal Status at Rome

Download or read book Work, Identity, and Legal Status at Rome written by Sandra R. Joshel and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Work, Identity, and Legal Status at Rome, Sandra R. Joshel examines Roman commemorative inscriptions from the first and second centuries A.D. to determine ways in which slaves, freed slaves, and unprivileged freeborn citizens used work to frame their identities. ln the minutiae of the epitaphs and dedications she identifies the 'language' of the inscriptions, through which the voiceless classes of Ancient Rome spoke. The inscriptions indicate the significance of work--as a source of community, a way to reframe the conditions of legal status, an assertion of activity against upper-class passivity, and a standard of assessment based on economic achievement rather than birth."--P. [4] of cover.