Adrian Heyworth-Smith Memorial Lecture: Roman emperors in the bedroom

Event Details

Date:

Sunday, 07 February 2021 - Sunday, 07 February 2021

Time:

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Room:

E107

UQ Location:

Forgan Smith Building (St Lucia)

URL:

https://alumni.uq.edu.au/event/session/14382

Event category(s):

Full Description:: The Adrian Heyworth-Smith Memorial Lecture is part of the Friends of Antiquity Sunday Series

The morality (or otherwise) of prominent politicians is frequently a subject of media and general public interest, here in Australia as elsewhere. On the other hand, when politicians tell us how to behave, we tend to be unimpressed or indignant, especially when we feel that our private domain is being invaded. Yet many governments have attempted - and continue to attempt – to control how many children their citizens produce, whether through demographic, economic, or idealistic motives.

In this talk Professor Tim Parkin will explore the case of imperial Rome in this context: how and why did Roman emperors legislate to make people marry and have children? Did they succeed? And can we learn from their example?