Download Chapter 8 Culture Group Activity This activity is meant to explore the

Chapter 8 Culture Group Activity
This activity is meant to explore the concept of “patria potestas” through a group debate/discussion. To
start, split the class into small groups of about 3 students. Each group is assigned a story from the Ch. 8
Culture section (either the story of Icarus or the story of Lucius Junius Brutus—others can be added by the
teacher) as well as a side (either for or against the use of patria potestas).
Have the students read the passage individually and then come together in their groups to discuss and
create an argument either for or against the use of patria potestas in their story.
After a set amount of time, the class will come back together and each group will present its argument. After
each group has gone, the class will discuss whether or not they think the use of patria potestas was justified
in both stories.
This activity is meant to bring an element of debate to the Latin classroom. Given that students are assigned
a side of the debate, they learn the skill of making an argument that they may not agree with personally. To
make the comparison more relevant, the teacher should incorporate a more modern story (either from film,
literature, or even personal history) for comparison after the whole class debate. For example, I often
engage the students to think of ways in which their family has a male head of the household and the power
that he commands. We then compare and contrast to see the relationship between Roman families and ours
today. – Mr. C
The Story of Lucius Junius Brutus
Lucius Junius Brutus was, according to tradition, the founder of the Roman Republic and its first consul.
He was the one who led the rebellion against the Etruscan kings of Rome after the rape of Lucretia. Soon
after, he was forced to order the execution of his sons, who were caught conspiring to restore the
Etruscans as kings of Rome. The Roman historian Livy gives us the account:
Sentence was pronounced and punishment inflicted upon the traitors—a punishment the more
conspicuous because the office of consul imposed upon a father the duty of exacting the penalty
from his sons. Bound to the stake stood youths of the highest birth; the consul’s sons drew all eyes
upon themselves. Men pitied them for their punishment not more than for the crime by which
they had deserved that punishment. To think that those young men, in that year of all others, when
their country was liberated and her liberator their own father, and when the consulship had begun
with the Junian family, could have brought themselves to betray all—the senate, the plebs
(common people), and all the gods and men of Rome—to one who had formerly been a tyrannical
king and was then an enemy exile!... The culprits were stripped, scourged with rods, and
beheaded, while through it all men gazed at the expression on the father’s face, where they might
clearly read a father’s anguish, as he administered the nation’s retribution.
Livy, II.V.5-8
The Story of Icarus
According to Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of a master craftsman, named Daedalus. One day,
Daedalus became jealous of his apprentice and threw him off of the Acropolis to his death. As punishment
for his crime, Daedalus was exiled to the island of Crete (south of Greece), where he was put in the service
of King Minos. There, Daedalus created all sorts of inventions for the king including the famous Labyrinth,
which held the beastly Minotaur—a half-half man, half-bull monster that would eat any prisoners thrown
into the Labyrinth. It was Daedalus who would give the secret of the Labyrinth to Theseus, the
mythological Athenian who slew the Minotaur. It was during this time that Daedalus also had a son,
Icarus.
Imprisoned in the Labyrinth with Icarus for helping Theseus defeat the Minotaur, Daedalus decided he
would have to use his craftsmanship to create a means of escape. To accomplish this, he built two sets of
mechanical wings, made of feathers and wax. When the wings were finally ready, Daedalus warned Icarus
not to fly too low, out of fear that the feathers would get wet and no longer work, nor too high, as the heat
of the sun might melt the wax holding the wings together. He instructed Icarus to follow his path exactly.
Young Icarus, overwhelmed by the thrill of flying, went against his father’s wishes and flew higher and
higher towards the sun. Soon, Icarus felt the wax melting on his wings and found himself flapping just his
bare arms. He fell to his death in the sea, which would be renamed the Icarian Sea.