Exemplary Ethics in Ancient Rome

Rebecca Langlands is Professor of Classics at the University of Exeter. Her books include Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome (Cambridge, 2006) and Sex, Knowledge, and Receptions of the Past (2015). She is also a founder and director of the award-winning Sex and History project, which works with museums, schools, charities and young people to promote empowering discussion of contemporary sexual issues.

'… [This] exemplary book enriches the study of Roman exempla and of exemplarity as such. It opens many paths of productive debate, and will provide a trove of ideas and prompts to further research.' Matthew Roller, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

• Introduction; 1. Roman values and the archetypal exemplum; 2. The special capacity of exemplary stories; 3. Exploitation, participation and the social function exempla; 4. The experience of learning from exempla; 5. Multiplicity, breadth, diversity and situational sensitivity in exemplary ethics; 6. Working consensus around Roman exempla; 7. Indeterminacy of exempla: interpretation, motivation and improvisation; 8. Sites of exemplarity: referentiality, memory, orality; 9. The dynamics of cultural memory: forgetting, rupture, contestation; 10. Changing sites of exemplarity: two case studies; 11. Diachronic overview of the exemplary terrain; 12. Controversial thinking through exempla; 13. Philosophical and literary adventures in the exemplary terrain; Conclusion.