#fallofrome — Public Fediverse posts

Not surprising...!

How #Patriarchy Undermined the #RomanRepublic

by Douglas Boin, Nov 24, 2025 2:00 PM

Excerpt: "The men of the republic, who called themselves their society’s 'Chosen Fathers,' enforced this two-tiered society through strict #VotingLaws and limits on women’s #autonomy. Heavily manipulated voting districts ensured that only the voices of the senatorial elite, Rome’s self-proclaimed optimates, or 'best men,' dominated, not progressive champions, freed slaves, or newly-enfranchised citizens. No woman could run for higher office. Women could neither sit on juries, nor exercise their vote.

" 'As soon as women become the equals of men,' the statesman and senator Cato the Elder said in 212 B.C., 'they will have become our masters.'

"Yet as Rome’s republic expanded beyond the capital city, beyond Italy, and gradually acquired its Mediterranean empire, stories of a different sort of woman reset women’s expectations at home. In the eastern Mediterranean, highly educated woman philosophers, avant-garde poets, and above all, the fearless Greek-speaking queens of Egypt, including #Cleopatra, held sway. Inspired by these role models across #Europe, #Africa, and #Asia, #RomanWoman began to challenge the republic’s inequities and ideologies and claim their voices in the male-dominated republic.

"Grandmothers and mothers taught their daughters to read and cultivate their intellectual talents. An educated girl, the new wave of educators argued, knew how to assert herself against a man who 'swaggers through the city acting like a tyrant.' Cato’s quotation comes from a pivotal moment when women and their allies poured into the streets to demand the repeal of a war-time-era tax on their savings. Other women were political leaders who earned the scorn of their contemporaries. Some were erased or forgotten. In one case, the life of an upper-class woman and contemporary of Julius Caesar, Clodia, saw her reputation destroyed by false claims of harlotry, home-wrecking, and husband-killing.

"#Clodia, an unapologetic champion for expanded voting rights for the enfranchised men of Italy, bravely went before an all-male jury in the center of the Roman Forum in April 56 B.C., as the prosecution’s star witness to testify against her day’s runway, endemic corruption. Instead of defending his client from the charges, however, the leading defense attorney, Marcus Tullius Cicero, turned the case into a referendum on Clodia’s character. Transforming Clodia into the trial’s villain, the speech, the Pro Caelio, outlasted Rome’s fall. It has been taught in high school and college classrooms for two millennia as a masterclass of rhetoric, from which countless men in business, law, and politics have learned to emulate Cicero’s #misogyny.

"Trailblazing women like Clodia have always, in the historian’s shorthand, been called “ahead of their time.” But history deserves to be told from another point of view: by pointing out the parade of men who have stubbornly and perennially thwarted progress. Rome’s republic might have survived a bit longer had its own people listened to, not silenced, its women."

Read more:
https://time.com/7326211/roman-republic-women/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/YJcBB

#RomanWomen #HistoryRepeatsItself #FallOfRome #RomanHistory #USPol #HistoryRepeats #WomensRights #VoterDisenfranchisement

It's okay for #MAGA #Insurrectionists to storm the Capitol building, but watch out for those dangerous 80-year-old veterans using walkers! WTF!

87-year-old Gainesville #veteran arrested at U.S. Capitol during #protest

Police arrested roughly 60 protesters outside the US Capitol on Friday night.

By Ryan Wyatt Turbeville
Published: Jun. 14, 2025 at 12:13 PM

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WCJB) - "An elderly man from Gainesville was one of dozens of veterans arrested outside the U.S. Capitol Building as they protested against President Donald Trump’s military parade scheduled for Saturday.

"U.S. Capitol Police confirm #JohnSpitzberg, 87, of Gainesville, was arrested for crossing a police line during a demonstration on Friday.

"Officers say around 75 veterans were protesting peacefully outside the U.S. Supreme Court building. Later, a group of about 60 left and officers began establishing a perimeter.

"That’s when officers say the group pushed down a bike rack, crossed the police line, and moved toward the Rotunda steps. Officers blocked them and began making arrests.

"Video of the incident shows officers arresting an elderly veteran using a walker with wheels and a chair. The man appears to be Spitzberg.

"Police say all 60 individuals will be charged with unlawful demonstration and crossing a police line. Some will also face additional charges of assault on a police officer and resisting arrest."

https://www.wcjb.com/2025/06/14/87-year-old-gainesville-veteran-arrested-us-capitol-during-protest/

#USPol #TrumpIsAFascist #Resistance #ResistFascism #MedicaidCuts #KillThePoor #FallOfRome #Veterans

The last prophecy of The Oracle of Delphi (sent to Julian the Apostate). I can’t IMAGINE why I thought of this now, so I’ll just leave this here:

“Tell the emperor that the Daidalic hall has fallen.
No longer does Phoebus have his chamber, nor mantic laurel,
nor prophetic spring and the speaking water has been silenced.”

#midtermelections #FallOfCivilizations #fallofrome #romanempire #romanhistory #history #ancienthistory