Women's Role In The Gospel Of Luke

Role of Women in Ancient Rome and the Bible The Gospel of Luke is a narrative about the journey of Jesus from before he was even born until he rose from the dead three days after he was crucified. Livy’s story of the founding of ancient Rome is multiple narratives about what makes up the beginning of ancient Roman’s history. These stories start from Aeneas founding Rome to the story of Cincinnatus. Women play a crucial role in both of these stories, but how they affect the story differs tremendously. Women play opposite roles in the founding of Rome and the Gospel of Luke. Women are depicted as a trouble and liability in the history of ancient Rome and as pious and important in the Gospel of Luke. Either way women do play an important role

Livy cites Lavinia as the cause of the war, this is not a good representation for women. It paints women as a source of trouble, unlike the Gospel of Luke which paints women as pious and important. Livy also tells the story of the Sabine women, who were taken by the Roman men against their will. This kidnapping of the Sabine women angered the fathers of the women and caused a war to break out between the women’s new husbands and fathers. This war was cited as the Sabine women’s faults, even though coming to Rome in the first place was not their choice. Livy writes that the Sabine women say: “’If,’ they cried, ‘you are weary of these ties of kindred, these marriage-bonds, then turn your anger upon us; it is we who are the cause of the war, it is we who have wounded and slain our husbands and fathers’” (Livy, 1.13). Again, in ancient Roman history, women are blamed for something that could have been avoided if men had acted differently. Women even cite themselves as the reasoning behind this war and the deaths caused by this fighting, when in reality the Roman men were the ones who took the women without their father’s permission. It was not the women’s’ choice at all. Livy then goes on to tell the story of Lucius Tarquin and Tullia. Tullia envied her sister who was married to Tarquin, and Tarquin loved Tullia back. This led to the two committing a double murder together, so they could love each other instead. The two were both evil but Livy writes that: “it was the woman who was the originator of all the mischief” (Livy, 1.46) and that Tarquin was “infected by the woman’s madness” (Livy, 1.47). Here Livy directly blames the woman, Tullia for the deeds that Tarquin eventually commits. He paints here that women are bad influences on men and are sources of evil, supporting the idea that women in Livy’s work are portrayed as trouble and as a