Ancient Rome

===Ethics and morality===
Like many ancient cultures, concepts of ethics and morality, while sharing some commonalities with modern society, differed greatly in several important ways. Because ancient civilisations like Rome were under constant threat of attack from marauding tribes, their culture was necessarily militaristic with martial skills being a prized attribute.<ref name="HuffPo: Bread">{{Cite news |last=Astore, William |title=Bread and Circuses in Rome and America |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-astore/bread-and-circuses-in-rom_b_3414248.html |access-date=11 August 2017}}</ref> Whereas modern societies consider [[compassion]] a virtue, Roman society considered compassion a vice, a moral defect. Indeed, one of the primary purposes of the gladiatorial games was to inoculate Roman citizens from this weakness.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87_ImL1ryQ8C |title=Annual Editions: Western Civilization |publisher=McGraw-Hill/Dushkin |year=2002 |edition=12th |volume=1 |page=68 |quote=... where compassion was regarded as a moral defect ...}}</ref><ref name="HuffPo: Bread"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson, Michael Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZkU9IuW1IuAC |title=Look Back to Get Ahead: Life Lessons from History's Heroes |publisher=Arcade Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=978-1559707275 |page=174 |quote=Gladatorial games were popular because the Romans actually believed that compassion was a vice and a weakness}}</ref> Romans instead prized virtues such as courage and conviction (''virtus''), a sense of duty to one's people, moderation and avoiding excess (''moderatio''), forgiveness and understanding (''clementia''), fairness (''severitas''), and loyalty (''[[pietas]]'').<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agyhCwAAQBAJ |title=Daily Life in Ancient Rome: A Sourcebook |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company |year=2016 |isbn=978-1585107964 |editor-last=Harvey, Brian K. |pages=21–28}}</ref>

Roman society had well-established and restrictive norms related to sexuality, though as with many societies, the lion's share of the responsibilities fell on women. Women were generally expected to be monogamous having only a single husband during their life (''univira''), though this was much less regarded by the elite, especially under the empire. Women were expected to be modest in public avoiding any provocative appearance and to demonstrate absolute fidelity to their husbands (''pudicitia''). Indeed, wearing a veil was a common expectation to preserve modesty. Sex outside of marriage was generally frowned upon for men and women and indeed was made illegal during the imperial period.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Langlands, Rebecca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBLnttutuOMC |title=Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0521859431 |pages=3–20}}</ref> Nevertheless, prostitution was an accepted and regulated practice.<ref name="Dillon">{{Cite book |last=Mathew Dillon and Lynda Garland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMNL0jqhygoC |title=Ancient Rome: From the Early Republic to the Assassination of Julius Caesar |publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2005 |isbn=978-0415224598 |page=382}}</ref>

Public demonstrations of death, violence, and brutality were used as a source of entertainment in Roman communities; however it was also a way to maintain social order, demonstrate power, and signify communal unity.