Fiat Luxus: Luxury and its Discontents in the Roman World

Undergraduate / Graduate

Roman sources often vilify luxury (from the Latin luxus), deeming it an external force that takes over prosperous societies and renders their citizens weak. Popular depictions of Roman notables past and present often highlight their decadence as a key part of their licentiousness. This course wrestles with this tricky concept, disentangling it from narratives of decline and moral turpitude. While denigrated in ancient and modern thought as both a superfluous and corrupting aspect of life-something that distracts from our understanding of more pure "daily life"-luxury played crucial roles in enacting status, reinforcing social relationships, and fulfilling personal desires. Students will learn to interrogate sources for their biases, as well as the lasting legacies of their assumptions, which have given rise to noxious ideologies in our own times.