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December 6, 2009 at 12:52 am #1819
Phidippides
KeymasterBelow is Time's list of Top 10 Mistresses. By “top” I'm guessing they mean “notorious” or “infamous” or even “powerful”. Notice that only three of them date to before 1980 or so. Why is this? Mistresses were more common in ages past than in the present day, so isn't it likely that there have been more powerful mistresses than contained in the list? I know that St. Augustine had a relationship with a concubine for many years prior to his conversion, but I can't really think of other famous mistresses offhand. Anyone? 1. Jaimee Grubbs 2. Mar?a Bel?n Chapur 3. Rielle Hunter 4. Marilyn Monroe 5. Ashley Dupr? 6. Anne Boleyn 7. Lucy Mercer 8. Monica Lewinsky 9. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall 10. Amy Fisher
December 6, 2009 at 9:00 am #17480scout1067
ParticipantI immediately thought of Marilyn Monroe when I saw the subject line. Bit I can think of any others off the top of head except for Cleopatra.
December 6, 2009 at 5:07 pm #17481Phidippides
KeymasterWould you consider Cleopatra a mistress, though? If so, she would probably go to the top of the list. Well, if this is an indication, the answer is "yes":
Eager to take advantage of Julius Caesar's anger with Ptolemy, Queen Cleopatra returned to the palace rolled into a Persian carpet and had it presented to Caesar by her servants: when it was unrolled, Cleopatra tumbled out.[9] It is believed that Caesar was charmed by the gesture, and she became his mistress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_VII#Caesar_and_Caesarion
December 6, 2009 at 8:40 pm #17482scout1067
ParticipantI would definitely consider Cleopatra a mistress, of both Caesar and Marc Antony. Caesar was married to Claudia when he was in Egypt. Say what you will, the Romans practiced monogamous marriage, I think that has been fairly established. What the upper classes did was something else, but then the same can be said about the present. Just ask Tiger ;D 😀
December 7, 2009 at 12:34 am #17483skiguy
ModeratorWas Jessica Hahn the one with that congressman John something. Or was she the one who caused Swaggart's fall?
December 7, 2009 at 12:40 am #17484Phidippides
KeymasterI would definitely consider Cleopatra a mistress, of both Caesar and Marc Antony. Caesar was married to Claudia when he was in Egypt. Say what you will, the Romans practiced monogamous marriage, I think that has been fairly established. What the upper classes did was something else, but then the same can be said about the present. Just ask Tiger ;D 😀
I am actually in the process of writing a paper which significantly touches on Roman womanly ideal. The ideal in Latin is pudicitia - namely, womanly virtue that incorporates modesty an the idea of univira, or a one-man woman. There is a particular pose for women that you can sometimes see on funerary reliefs that signify this ideal of pudicitia.
December 7, 2009 at 6:40 am #17485scout1067
ParticipantI thought Hahn was the one involved with Jim Bakker. I remember the hilarious “I ran into Tammy Faye” t-shirts from high school.
December 7, 2009 at 1:42 pm #17486Aetheling
ParticipantI am actually in the process of writing a paper which significantly touches on Roman womanly ideal. The ideal in Latin is pudicitia - namely, womanly virtue that incorporates modesty an the idea of univira, or a one-man woman. There is a particular pose for women that you can sometimes see on funerary reliefs that signify this ideal of pudicitia.
I've found an interesting article about the concept of Matres and Matrones : female deities venerated in North-West Europe from the 1st to the 5th century AD. They are depicted on votive objects and altars that bear images of goddesses, depicted almost entirely in groups of three, that feature inscriptions (about half of which feature Celtic names, and half of which feature Germanic names), that were venerated in regions of Germania, Eastern Gaul, and upper Italy that were occupied by the Roman army from the first to the fifth century AD.The Germanic matres have been connected with the later Germanic d?sir, valkyries, and norns attested largely in 13th century sources.R Pascal even theorizes that The Three Marys may be Christianized versions of the Matres and Matrones.However, in medieval French language, Matrone was an older woman (up to 40 yo) who helped younger women give birth. The author claims that in the USA, a Matrone is a female prison guard (but I didn't find any evidence about this).http://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false I wonder how Romans considered women like Julia Agrippina, Roman empress, great-granddaughter of Augustus, great-niece and adoptive granddaughter of Tiberius, sister of Caligula, niece and fourth wife of Claudius and mother of Nero ?? 😮Although Roman women were citizens, but could not run for political office or vote. They seemed to have a substantial freedom outside of politics.Sounds like a "d?j?-vu" ... :-
December 9, 2009 at 10:29 pm #17487GaiaCaesari524
ParticipantI would have to say Servillia Caeponius, and Cleopatra…I am a classicist after all ;D
December 17, 2009 at 4:24 am #17488GaiaCaesari524
ParticipantI would definitely consider Cleopatra a mistress, of both Caesar and Marc Antony. Caesar was married to Claudia when he was in Egypt. Say what you will, the Romans practiced monogamous marriage, I think that has been fairly established. What the upper classes did was something else, but then the same can be said about the present. Just ask Tiger ;D 😀
Julius Caesar was actually married to Calpurnia, his third wife at the time.
December 17, 2009 at 9:51 am #17489scout1067
ParticipantI stand corrected on the wife's name :(. However, he was married 🙂
December 17, 2009 at 3:07 pm #17490Wally
ParticipantAnd now (thanks Tiger) we have ten (and counting) more to pick from. 😮
December 17, 2009 at 3:24 pm #17491scout1067
ParticipantAnd now (thanks Tiger) we have ten (and counting) more to pick from. 😮
Last number I heard was fourteen, how did he have the energy to play golf?
December 17, 2009 at 3:26 pm #17492skiguy
ModeratorPerformance enhancing drugs ;D 😀 ;D
December 17, 2009 at 4:52 pm #17493Aetheling
ParticipantAnd now (thanks Tiger) we have ten (and counting) more to pick from. 😮
Tabloid allegations about his private life.works-righteousness and a form of supererogation... a moral fervor in bringing about a just society, which sometimes created paranoia and intolerance for other views.
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