Anger as a Mechanism for Social Control in Imperial Rome

Anger is often taken for granted as a universally understood emotion. Emotion theorists, both ancient and modern, frequently include anger in lists of ‘basic emotions,’ which implies that there is something about anger that is fundamental to human psychology and physiology. This has given rise to the assumption that because we all feel anger, we know anger when we see it, and we understand what it signifies. Now that scholars in diverse fields have begun to study anger through the lens of their disciplines, the sense that anger is uncomplicated persists, even though it has been observed that the ‘rules’ for anger differ significantly across cultures. In recent years Classicists have launched studies that explore various aspects of ancient emotional culture, but the majority skirt the issue of anger even when an understanding of the emotion is essential to their thesis; for example, studies on regret and forgiveness in the ancient world depend upon the assumption that anger in ancient cultures is already thoroughly understood.