Research task (Historical Analysis):
Produce an essay analyzing the multifaceted and multidimensional nature of Roman marriage in the late Republic and early Empire using primary sources as the base of evidence and analysis. The response must analyze marriage from an economic and legal perspective through marriage contracts, divorce agreements, and laws of adultery, from a social and ideological perspective through Claudia's tombstone inscriptions and Pliny's letter about Calpurnia, and from a psychological and emotional perspective through letters to Lesbia and Ovid's account of deceiving a husband. The conclusion must determine which of the three perspectives acts as the most impactful factor for both the stability and the internal contradictions of the Roman institution of marriage.

Evaluation rubric:
criterion: The overall argument considers the causal relationship between different attributes of Roman marriage (Economic and legal, Social and ideological, Psychological and emotional) with the relevant specified sources (Marriage contracts and divorce agreements, laws of adultery, Claudia's tombstone inscriptions and Pliny the younger's letter about Calpurnia, Catullus' poems about Lesbia and Ovid's accounts).
weight: 5
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response explicitly states that Economic and legal perspectives were the most influential for the stability of Roman marriages in the late Republican and early Empire eras, with sufficient justification (legality for children, transferrance of property, dowry as finanical means and support, adultery being punishable by law and an offence akin to pimping if not reported).
weight: 4
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response highlights the analytical limitations of the Social and ideological as well as Psychological and emotional perspectives being the most impactful factor to the stability of Roman marriages.
weight: 4
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response introduction is fully self-contained and provides a thesis statement (i.e., acts as an abstract for the report by defining the subject, mentioning the perspectives studied, explicitly stating the final conclusion reached, and justifying the conclusion reached).
weight: 1
axis: Communication Quality

criterion: The response explicitly mentions protecting family and personal fortunes as the economic reason behind the historical shift from cum manu (i.e., wife is under legal control of the husband) to sine manu (under the legal control of the father) marriages.
weight: 3
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response lists the legal consequences of illegitimate children in Roman society (e.g., no inheritance from father, legal status only from mother, no patria potestas, etc.).
weight: 3
axis: Synthesis of Information

criterion: The response mentions the specific rules regarding spousal inheritance within a sine manu marriage (no inheritance between families and partners only inherited from ancestors on their side of the family).
weight: 3
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response explains the role of the dowry behind marital stability (the dowry provided financial support to the family and the husband figure must return the dowry if a divorce were to occur).
weight: 3
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response explains how the Lex Iulia shifted the regulation of adultery from a private matter to a public crime to be tried in a permanent state court (quaestio perpetua), affecting marriages irrevocably.
weight: 3
axis: Synthesis of Information

criterion: The response discusses marriage as a contract for legitimizing heirs/transferring property.
weight: 4
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response compares the idealized traits of a mother (i.e., domesticity, modesty, chastity) represented by Claudia to the intellectual attributes (i.e., sharp wit, love for literature, interest in music) of Calpurnia to highlight the multidimensional contradictions of Roman marriage.
weight: 4
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The analysis explains the symbolic importance of wool-making as a symbol of virtue or chastity.
weight: 3
axis: Synthesis of Information

criterion: The response notes the double standard and relative lack of rights women had (not owning their own property, being unable to initiate divorces if their husband cheats), thus influencing their ability to leave a marriage
weight: 5
axis: Synthesis of Information

criterion: The analysis of Pliny's letter considers the significance of its specific addressee (Hispulla, the aunt of Calpurnia)—i.e., emphasis on traditional virtues, dual audience in Hispulla and general public, demonstration of respect, etc.
weight: 2
axis: Synthesis of Information

criterion: The analysis explains how Calpurnia's intellectual devotion serves to amplify her husband's public reputation (gloria).
weight: 3
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The analysis notes Catullus' use of treaty-related diction (i.e. foedus) in emphasizing the emotional complexities of the affair.
weight: 2
axis: Synthesis of Information

criterion: The analysis of Catullus’ poetry highlights his jealousy and resentment of Lesbia’s husband, whose entitlement through marriage contrasts with Catullus’ more precarious position as a lover.
weight: 2
axis: Synthesis of Information

criterion: The analysis notes how the genre of Ovid's work (didactic love poems/poetry such as Ars Amatoria) is an imitation of more serious instructional texts with a deliberate exaggeration (e.g., instructing women on how to conceal their flaws, or advising men to promise anything to seduce women).
weight: 2
axis: Synthesis of Information

criterion: The analysis of Ovid's work notes how it acted as an opposition to the moral rules presented by Emperor Augustus.
weight: 3
axis: Synthesis of Information

criterion: The essay is organized into clearly marked sections, each devoted to one of the three analytical perspectives (legal/economic, social/ideological, psychological/emotional).
weight: 3
axis: Communication Quality

criterion: The response contains unwarranted line breaks (e.g., breaks in the middle of sentence).
weight: -2
axis: Communication Quality

criterion: Each primary source named in the prompt must be quoted or paraphrased and analyzed for its significance to the relevant perspective (marriage contracts, divorce agreements, laws of adultery, Claudia's epitaph, Pliny's letters about Claudia, Catullus' poems to Lesbia, and Ovid's works) without replacement (i.e. it doesn't use Laudatio Turiae instead of Claudia's epitaph).
weight: 4
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response lists more primary sources (e.g., images of inscriptions, original poems, documents of ancient laws, etc.) than secondary sources (encyclopedias, blog posts, academic journals, etc.) within the list of references, as told by the prompt to use primary documents as the basis of evidence and analysis (can be counted in each response's reference list).
weight: 4
axis: Instruction Following