#classical studies

Classics claim check: did the Romans proactively seek out children born with ambiguous genitalia—whom today we would call intersex—and kill them?

What are our sources? Livy, Pliny the Elder, and Julius Obsequens.

*To begin with, no ancient writer records the killing of a child born with ambiguous genitalia contemporary with the time they lived or are writing. All examples of the murder of intersex children are depicted as happening at some time in the past.

Infants or children who were labeled “semimas”, “androgynus”, or “hermaphroditus” are recorded among lists of ill-omens and portents that occurred during times of crisis. They are often listed alongside several other omens, for example a lamb born with a pig’s head, a pig born with a human’s head, a colt born with five feet, a child was born with an elephants head, it rained milk, it rained rocks, a cow spoke, the sky glowed red even though it was clear. (Liv. AUC XXXI.12; XXVII.11; XXVII.37; XXXIX.22.)

Pliny the Elder, NH VII.iii.34: “We call those who are born with sex characteristics of both ‘hermaphrodites’, called a long time ago ‘androgynus’ and considered portents, now however in pleasures/delights/as favorites” (Giguntur et utriusque sexu quos hermaphroditos vocamus, olim androgynos vocatos et in prodigiis habitos, nunc vero in deliciis.)

Julius Obsequens (4th/5th cent. CE) wrote a work (prodigiorum liber) listing the occurrence of portents/prodigies from the 3rd cent. BCE to the end of the 1st cent. BCE. It is believed that Obsequens’ primary source is Livy. Obsequens lists 9 cases of intersex children being killed, 8 of them by being thrown into a body of water, between 186 BCE and 92 BCE. However, like in Livy, all these instances are listed alongside other portents and date to a time of crisis for Rome, usually a military or political crisis.

Verdict: No, at least not in any systematic way. That intersex children are born or are found specifically during a time of crisis alongside other portents takes away from the credibility that intersex children were sought out by Roman religious officials and then killed. Livy’s recording of portents, which Julius Obsequens reiterates, has a specific agenda. Portents and prodigies amplify the crises experienced by the Romans to a divine level. Hannibal’s success against the Romans during the Second Punic War as recorded by Livy was seen as an overturning of nature itself and thus must have been accompanied by divine portents that reflected a universe turned on its head. Does this mean that Romans saw children born with ambiguous genitalia as unnatural or undesirable, yes probably. But more than anything it is a comment on the state of the Roman world during a particular moment.

On a different note, according to Diodorus Siculus (c. 90 BCE–c. 30 BCE) and Aulus Gellius (c. 125 CE–180 CE), some intersex people could be quite successful in the ancient Mediterranean world.

grammar + ancient greek

classical archaeologists often create nicknames for vase painters or vase-painting workshops that have distinctive styles but lack any other means of identification

here are some of my favorites (for more, visit The Classical Art Research Centre):

Boot Painter
Brown Egg Painter
Cactus Painter
Cat and Dog Painter
Club Foot Potter
Crawling Boy Workshop
Dwarf Painter
Elbows Out (literally just called “Elbows Out”)
Fat Boy Group
Fat Runners Group
Kiss Painter
Long Nose Painter
Long Chin Group
Maenad-on-Goat Painter
Maenads-on-Bull Painter
Mule Painter
Painter of the Woolly Satyrs
Pointed Nose Painter
Red Line Painter
Scorpion-Fish Painter
Scythian Patrol Painter
Class of Seven Lobster Claws
Group of Skinny Griffins
Straggly Painter

my big fat greek workload

writing a dramatic performance about the tomb of Philip II called The Vergina Monologues

in case you missed it

the website for La Graufesenque (French archaeological site)

has a scary French woman in a toga who reads the pages for you

http://www.graufesenque.com/FR/Graufesenque-Sommaire.awp

…

did i mention it is scary

Younger Me:WatchesOuran Host Club,laughs at Haruhi being frustrated and always going “these damn rich people” and doesn’t think much of it because I literally never thought I’d ever be in that situation.

Fast forward to me a few semesters ago when I went to my very first Ancient Greek class:

*Realizes that I’m in a major FULL of rich kids with very influential and powerful connections. As an extravert, I tend to befriend people around me which wasn’t hard (and I didn’t realize they were rich until WAAAAY later) but as soon as I befriend them, as a person who grew up super poor, Iinstantly notice how out of touch they are with the concept of having to work hard to get thingsand now I finally understand why Haruhi would always say:

My major is full of very rich people and all I want to know isWHAT’S WITH RICH PEOPLE AND CLASSICAL STUDIES?

If you get into this major, please be advised that you might end up in the same classes as the children of celebrities, politicians, CEOs of tech companies/car companies, etc. As someone who has only ever seen these kinds of people on TV/news outlets, meeting their kids and working with them on a project for classis so strange,(I just pretend I don’t know who their parents are and treat them like I would anyone because they’re so used to the limelight they seem to like the break and just be treated like a normal person).

Please don’t ask me who their parents are,I just wanted to point out thatrich people tend to major in the Classical Studies field!