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Saturday, December 15, 2018

The sexual assault case that shook Ancient Rome

From The Week:
Image result for ancient roman actresses"You say that he raped an actress," Cicero told the court. "And this is said to have happened at Atina, while he was quite young."

There was a low, subdued chuckle from the crowd. They were all men — women weren't allowed inside the courtroom — most from the town of Atina themselves. They'd made the 80-mile trip to support a man they respected, whom they believed had been unfairly accused.

His name was Gnaeus Plancius (Quaestor in Macedonia in 58 BCE), and in the year 54 B.C., he was one of the most powerful men in Rome.  She was just a little girl when Plancius attacked her. 

Her name has been lost to time — nobody bothered to write it down. To the Roman Republic, she was just some woman in Atina who'd flaunted her skin on stage and then acted surprised when a red-blooded man couldn't control himself.

read more here @ The Week

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