Aktuelle Forschungen

The aim of the project is to systematically work out the significance of sexuality, love relationships and gender identity for the public image of ancient politicians and their political practice. The aim is to trace the development of sexual ideals that were expected of public (political) figures and to investigate the consequences of not fulfilling these expectations. It will be determined to what extent sexual deviancy could be used in a targeted manner to defame and shame politicians, thereby attacking, limiting and damaging their public reputation and their political scope for action. The study will discuss the extent to which the amorous private lives of these individuals could influence their careers, public acceptance and political success and be used as a weapon against them in a targeted manner by their opponents. The hypothesis that standardized forms of sexual shaming and defamation in the political public sphere developed in Attic rhetoric of the classical period, which were adopted in the late Republic and imperial period in Rome and continued there in rhetoric on the one hand and also found expression in the literary genre of political biography on the other.

This dissertation re-examines the concept of novitas in the context of the Middle Roman Republic. By exploring the strategies of status-exposition of plebeian consuls outside of their ancestral lineage, Noreen Stühmer argues for a more nuanced understanding of social mobility and political culture within the Roman elite.

Vyacheslav Telminov's research focuses on the political culture centered in and around villas of the Roman nobility and their spatial structures. In addition to literary sources, he uses archaeological findings to determine the connection between the change in the political system and the structure of space on private villas.