T. P. Wiseman
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199239764
- eISBN:
- 9780191716836
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239764.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romulus divided up the territory of Rome equally among the citizens. He makes that point at the start of a lengthy digression on Romulus' constitutional ...
More
According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romulus divided up the territory of Rome equally among the citizens. He makes that point at the start of a lengthy digression on Romulus' constitutional arrangements, inserted into the narrative between the foundation and the rape of the Sabines. The digression clearly comes from a non-narrative source, and since Dionysius at one point refers to Varro's Antiquitates, this chapter compares the particular measures he attributes to Romulus with what is known of Varro's views on each item, and concludes that the entire digression is likely to have been taken from the Antiquitates. It may be significant that Varro's own family was enrolled in the Quirina tribus, whose original members had been allotted strictly equal seven-iugera farms in the Sabine country conquered by Manius Curius in the 3rd century BC.Less
According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romulus divided up the territory of Rome equally among the citizens. He makes that point at the start of a lengthy digression on Romulus' constitutional arrangements, inserted into the narrative between the foundation and the rape of the Sabines. The digression clearly comes from a non-narrative source, and since Dionysius at one point refers to Varro's Antiquitates, this chapter compares the particular measures he attributes to Romulus with what is known of Varro's views on each item, and concludes that the entire digression is likely to have been taken from the Antiquitates. It may be significant that Varro's own family was enrolled in the Quirina tribus, whose original members had been allotted strictly equal seven-iugera farms in the Sabine country conquered by Manius Curius in the 3rd century BC.
Liv Mariah Yarrow
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199277544
- eISBN:
- 9780191708022
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199277544.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter investigates the characterization of Rome particularly with reference to her domestic affairs. It also looks at the presentation of Rome's actions outside Italy and progresses from ...
More
This chapter investigates the characterization of Rome particularly with reference to her domestic affairs. It also looks at the presentation of Rome's actions outside Italy and progresses from instances in which Rome treats the peoples and lands as separate sovereign bodies to those instances where Rome is the primary authority within the region in question. Of course, the distinction between these two sorts of case allows for much interpretation and many intermediary steps. Again, it is important to recall that the discussion is not concerned with ‘reality’ per se, but the authorial representations and evaluations of Roman actions.Less
This chapter investigates the characterization of Rome particularly with reference to her domestic affairs. It also looks at the presentation of Rome's actions outside Italy and progresses from instances in which Rome treats the peoples and lands as separate sovereign bodies to those instances where Rome is the primary authority within the region in question. Of course, the distinction between these two sorts of case allows for much interpretation and many intermediary steps. Again, it is important to recall that the discussion is not concerned with ‘reality’ per se, but the authorial representations and evaluations of Roman actions.
Jill Mann
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199217687
- eISBN:
- 9780191712371
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199217687.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, European Literature
This chapter provides a theoretical basis for the discussion of individual works in subsequent chapters. Taking examples from the Latin prose rendition of Phaedran fables known as the Romulus ...
More
This chapter provides a theoretical basis for the discussion of individual works in subsequent chapters. Taking examples from the Latin prose rendition of Phaedran fables known as the Romulus vulgaris, it analyses ‘how animals mean’ in beast fable, emphasizing the deliberate brevity and sparseness of fable narrative, and connecting these features with the mistrust of words that fable characteristically teaches. In contrast, in beast epic (represented here by the Ysengrimus), words proliferate, and the simple moral conclusion in which the action of beast fable culminates is dissolved in a sea of animal moralizing whose effect is comic rather than didactic. Beast fable and beat epic also differ in their relation to historical reality: whereas fable is a‐historical in itself but can be used as a whole to comment on a historical situation, epic can incorporate topical satire into its narrative.Less
This chapter provides a theoretical basis for the discussion of individual works in subsequent chapters. Taking examples from the Latin prose rendition of Phaedran fables known as the Romulus vulgaris, it analyses ‘how animals mean’ in beast fable, emphasizing the deliberate brevity and sparseness of fable narrative, and connecting these features with the mistrust of words that fable characteristically teaches. In contrast, in beast epic (represented here by the Ysengrimus), words proliferate, and the simple moral conclusion in which the action of beast fable culminates is dissolved in a sea of animal moralizing whose effect is comic rather than didactic. Beast fable and beat epic also differ in their relation to historical reality: whereas fable is a‐historical in itself but can be used as a whole to comment on a historical situation, epic can incorporate topical satire into its narrative.
Mario Labate
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199277773
- eISBN:
- 9780191708138
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199277773.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter argues that the first digression of the poem involving Romulus and the Sabine women, which draws attention to the absence of ars in the process of selecting a mate, acts as an effective ...
More
This chapter argues that the first digression of the poem involving Romulus and the Sabine women, which draws attention to the absence of ars in the process of selecting a mate, acts as an effective anti-exemplum to make more prominent the positive teaching of the Ars as a whole.Less
This chapter argues that the first digression of the poem involving Romulus and the Sabine women, which draws attention to the absence of ars in the process of selecting a mate, acts as an effective anti-exemplum to make more prominent the positive teaching of the Ars as a whole.
Irene Salvo
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199652143
- eISBN:
- 9780191745935
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199652143.003.0009
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE, Archaeology: Classical
An honorary decree from Chios, dated after Apamea (189/8 bce), offers interesting evidence for the interaction between Rome and the Greek East at the beginning of the second century bce. This chapter ...
More
An honorary decree from Chios, dated after Apamea (189/8 bce), offers interesting evidence for the interaction between Rome and the Greek East at the beginning of the second century bce. This chapter contributes to the understanding of this document in two ways: by proposing a new restoration in a crucial point of the text; and by returning to a much-discussed question: what is the nature of the object dedicated to the goddess Rome, in which there is a reference to the story of the birth of Romulus and Remus and the origins of Rome? On l. 25, a new possible restoration can be διήγησις, ‘narration, description, oral or written tale’, to indicate what was the content of the votive offering dedicated to the goddess Rome. If we were to visualize this dedication, we could think of a votive relief representing Romulus and Remus, combined with a text summing up briefly what preceded, and what happened after, the represented scene.Less
An honorary decree from Chios, dated after Apamea (189/8 bce), offers interesting evidence for the interaction between Rome and the Greek East at the beginning of the second century bce. This chapter contributes to the understanding of this document in two ways: by proposing a new restoration in a crucial point of the text; and by returning to a much-discussed question: what is the nature of the object dedicated to the goddess Rome, in which there is a reference to the story of the birth of Romulus and Remus and the origins of Rome? On l. 25, a new possible restoration can be διήγησις, ‘narration, description, oral or written tale’, to indicate what was the content of the votive offering dedicated to the goddess Rome. If we were to visualize this dedication, we could think of a votive relief representing Romulus and Remus, combined with a text summing up briefly what preceded, and what happened after, the represented scene.
Ausgusto Fraschetti
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748621200
- eISBN:
- 9780748651030
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748621200.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This book describes the legends surrounding the origins, foundation, and early history of Rome; the significance the Romans attached to the legends of their origins; and the uses to which they put ...
More
This book describes the legends surrounding the origins, foundation, and early history of Rome; the significance the Romans attached to the legends of their origins; and the uses to which they put them. Between 1000 BC and 650 BC a cluster of small, isolated groups of thatched huts on the Roman hills became an extensive and complex city, its monumental buildings and large public spaces evidence of power and wealth. Two competing foundation legends accounted for this shift, one featuring the Trojan fugitive Aeneas and the other the wolf-reared Romulus and Remus. Both played a significant role in Roman thought and identity, preoccupying generations of Roman historians and providing an important theme in Roman poetry. In the last two centuries, the foundation era of Rome has been the subject of extensive investigations by archaeologists. These have revealed much that was previously a mystery and have allowed the piecing together of a coherent account of the early history of the city. The book considers this evidence and the degree to which it supports or undermines the legends, Roman documentary accounts, and the work of modern scholars. It reveals what now seems the most probable history of Rome's origins and rise to regional pre-eminence.Less
This book describes the legends surrounding the origins, foundation, and early history of Rome; the significance the Romans attached to the legends of their origins; and the uses to which they put them. Between 1000 BC and 650 BC a cluster of small, isolated groups of thatched huts on the Roman hills became an extensive and complex city, its monumental buildings and large public spaces evidence of power and wealth. Two competing foundation legends accounted for this shift, one featuring the Trojan fugitive Aeneas and the other the wolf-reared Romulus and Remus. Both played a significant role in Roman thought and identity, preoccupying generations of Roman historians and providing an important theme in Roman poetry. In the last two centuries, the foundation era of Rome has been the subject of extensive investigations by archaeologists. These have revealed much that was previously a mystery and have allowed the piecing together of a coherent account of the early history of the city. The book considers this evidence and the degree to which it supports or undermines the legends, Roman documentary accounts, and the work of modern scholars. It reveals what now seems the most probable history of Rome's origins and rise to regional pre-eminence.
Augusto Fraschetti
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748621200
- eISBN:
- 9780748651030
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748621200.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
The sole common component in the legends about the birth of the twins Romulus and Remus is that they were sons of a Vestal Virgin called Rhea Silvia. It was not difficult to show that this story of ...
More
The sole common component in the legends about the birth of the twins Romulus and Remus is that they were sons of a Vestal Virgin called Rhea Silvia. It was not difficult to show that this story of the conception of Romulus and Remus by a slave girl and a male organ which had miraculously materialised in the hearth of King Tarchetius of Alba was modelled on a legend concerning the birth of the good king Servius Tullius, the sixth successor of Romulus, conceived according to legend in very similar manner in the house of the king Tarquinius Priscus. However, when Amulius learnt that the girl was pregnant, he put her under strict supervision, and when the twins were born, had her locked up in a dark dungeon and ordered some of his shepherds to throw the twins into the Tiber to drown.Less
The sole common component in the legends about the birth of the twins Romulus and Remus is that they were sons of a Vestal Virgin called Rhea Silvia. It was not difficult to show that this story of the conception of Romulus and Remus by a slave girl and a male organ which had miraculously materialised in the hearth of King Tarchetius of Alba was modelled on a legend concerning the birth of the good king Servius Tullius, the sixth successor of Romulus, conceived according to legend in very similar manner in the house of the king Tarquinius Priscus. However, when Amulius learnt that the girl was pregnant, he put her under strict supervision, and when the twins were born, had her locked up in a dark dungeon and ordered some of his shepherds to throw the twins into the Tiber to drown.
Augusto Fraschetti
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748621200
- eISBN:
- 9780748651030
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748621200.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter pays more attention to certain highly typical features related to the auspices and the death of Remus. With regard to the auspices, it notes those of the twins' attributes that might be ...
More
This chapter pays more attention to certain highly typical features related to the auspices and the death of Remus. With regard to the auspices, it notes those of the twins' attributes that might be described as ‘natural’. Without anyone ever having instructed them in the reading of the auspices and the relevant soothsaying skills, both prepare a true templum (a ritually defined space) on a preordained high point to receive ‘auspicia impetrativa’. From these spaces, they set about observing the signs, just as later, in the historical period, observers would study the omens from the city's two auguracula. The birds which Romulus sees are in exactly twice the number seen by his brother: this means that Romulus has better auspices, just as in the historical period the senior magistrates possess ‘auspicia maxima’ relative to the junior magistrates such as aediles and quaestors, who hold ‘auspicia minora’.Less
This chapter pays more attention to certain highly typical features related to the auspices and the death of Remus. With regard to the auspices, it notes those of the twins' attributes that might be described as ‘natural’. Without anyone ever having instructed them in the reading of the auspices and the relevant soothsaying skills, both prepare a true templum (a ritually defined space) on a preordained high point to receive ‘auspicia impetrativa’. From these spaces, they set about observing the signs, just as later, in the historical period, observers would study the omens from the city's two auguracula. The birds which Romulus sees are in exactly twice the number seen by his brother: this means that Romulus has better auspices, just as in the historical period the senior magistrates possess ‘auspicia maxima’ relative to the junior magistrates such as aediles and quaestors, who hold ‘auspicia minora’.
Augusto Fraschetti
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748621200
- eISBN:
- 9780748651030
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748621200.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
In specifically comparing Romulus's actions to those of famous Greek lawgivers, Dionysius of Halicarnassus starts by claiming that straight after the foundation, Romulus had called an assembly of the ...
More
In specifically comparing Romulus's actions to those of famous Greek lawgivers, Dionysius of Halicarnassus starts by claiming that straight after the foundation, Romulus had called an assembly of the Romans and given them the choice of a ‘system of government’. Immediately he dangled before them the fear of ‘civil commotions’, which were much more dangerous for the community than foreign wars. Cassius Dio, likewise attributed a discussion on the choice of government – monarchy, oligarchy, or democracy – and on the merits and drawbacks of these forms of government, to Caesar Augustus and his friends Caius Cilnius Maecenas and Vipsanius Agrippa after the end of the civil wars. After Romulus had stressed the necessity for ‘unanimity among the citizens’ in the event of ‘civil commotions’, the Romans, faced with the alternatives of monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy, chose the ‘constitution’ of the city of Alba, and bestowed the kingdom on Romulus himself.Less
In specifically comparing Romulus's actions to those of famous Greek lawgivers, Dionysius of Halicarnassus starts by claiming that straight after the foundation, Romulus had called an assembly of the Romans and given them the choice of a ‘system of government’. Immediately he dangled before them the fear of ‘civil commotions’, which were much more dangerous for the community than foreign wars. Cassius Dio, likewise attributed a discussion on the choice of government – monarchy, oligarchy, or democracy – and on the merits and drawbacks of these forms of government, to Caesar Augustus and his friends Caius Cilnius Maecenas and Vipsanius Agrippa after the end of the civil wars. After Romulus had stressed the necessity for ‘unanimity among the citizens’ in the event of ‘civil commotions’, the Romans, faced with the alternatives of monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy, chose the ‘constitution’ of the city of Alba, and bestowed the kingdom on Romulus himself.
Augusto Fraschetti
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748621200
- eISBN:
- 9780748651030
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748621200.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
The death of the first king, Romulus the founder, constituted a problem on many levels for the Romans. Dionysius of Halicarnassus spoke of ‘many different stories’, various accounts on which there ...
More
The death of the first king, Romulus the founder, constituted a problem on many levels for the Romans. Dionysius of Halicarnassus spoke of ‘many different stories’, various accounts on which there were evidently no agreement. According to one of these – a version Dionysius considered ‘rather fabulous’ – Romulus disappeared during a review of the army ‘in the camp’. Suddenly there occurred supernatural phenomena that obscured the light, or somehow removed Romulus from everyone's sight, and when these phenomena ceased, the throne was empty. After searching in vain, the people finally understood – or were made to understand – that the king had ascended to heaven to be among the gods, or better, that he had been swept up into heaven by his father Mars, and therefore was numbered among them.Less
The death of the first king, Romulus the founder, constituted a problem on many levels for the Romans. Dionysius of Halicarnassus spoke of ‘many different stories’, various accounts on which there were evidently no agreement. According to one of these – a version Dionysius considered ‘rather fabulous’ – Romulus disappeared during a review of the army ‘in the camp’. Suddenly there occurred supernatural phenomena that obscured the light, or somehow removed Romulus from everyone's sight, and when these phenomena ceased, the throne was empty. After searching in vain, the people finally understood – or were made to understand – that the king had ascended to heaven to be among the gods, or better, that he had been swept up into heaven by his father Mars, and therefore was numbered among them.
Augusto Fraschetti
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748621200
- eISBN:
- 9780748651030
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748621200.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
The first to deny any historicity to the figure of Romulus, the founder of Rome, was Barthold Georg Niebuhr, in the first volume of his Storia romana, published in 1813. In his opinion at least, the ...
More
The first to deny any historicity to the figure of Romulus, the founder of Rome, was Barthold Georg Niebuhr, in the first volume of his Storia romana, published in 1813. In his opinion at least, the figure, from his miraculous birth to his equally miraculous ascent to heaven, was an ensemble of legends, formed from the most varied elements: the sagas that circulated in ancient Latium and which could have been transmitted orally, and those spread by Greek historians, who, from at least the fourth century, were interested in Rome and its most ancient history. There were violent attacks on Niebuhr, who was in those years the Prussian ambassador in Rome, chiefly from spheres closely connected to the Curia; since, by denying the historicity of Romulus, he was also denying the passing of the legitimacy of the Roman empire.Less
The first to deny any historicity to the figure of Romulus, the founder of Rome, was Barthold Georg Niebuhr, in the first volume of his Storia romana, published in 1813. In his opinion at least, the figure, from his miraculous birth to his equally miraculous ascent to heaven, was an ensemble of legends, formed from the most varied elements: the sagas that circulated in ancient Latium and which could have been transmitted orally, and those spread by Greek historians, who, from at least the fourth century, were interested in Rome and its most ancient history. There were violent attacks on Niebuhr, who was in those years the Prussian ambassador in Rome, chiefly from spheres closely connected to the Curia; since, by denying the historicity of Romulus, he was also denying the passing of the legitimacy of the Roman empire.
Erica Benner
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199653638
- eISBN:
- 9780191769405
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199653638.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter starts by summing up some of the main qualities Machiavelli associates with virtú, and discussing his claim that prince who rely less on fortune and more on virtú ‘have maintained ...
More
This chapter starts by summing up some of the main qualities Machiavelli associates with virtú, and discussing his claim that prince who rely less on fortune and more on virtú ‘have maintained themselves more.’ The Prince chapter 6 urges princes to aim high and imitate very great examples, such as Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, or Theseus. If we consider what ancient writers said about these men, however, and compare Machiavelli’s own more critical remarks about them in the Discourses, the Prince’s call to imitation looks puzzling and naïve – or ironically misleading. A ‘lesser’ but far more realistic, human-sized model for imitation appears at the chapter’s end: Hiero of Syracuse.Less
This chapter starts by summing up some of the main qualities Machiavelli associates with virtú, and discussing his claim that prince who rely less on fortune and more on virtú ‘have maintained themselves more.’ The Prince chapter 6 urges princes to aim high and imitate very great examples, such as Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, or Theseus. If we consider what ancient writers said about these men, however, and compare Machiavelli’s own more critical remarks about them in the Discourses, the Prince’s call to imitation looks puzzling and naïve – or ironically misleading. A ‘lesser’ but far more realistic, human-sized model for imitation appears at the chapter’s end: Hiero of Syracuse.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823242641
- eISBN:
- 9780823242689
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823242641.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Chapter 2 begins by placing these two seemingly contradictory terms in relation: only individuals may be melancholic, and they are so precisely because of their isolation, asociality, or distance ...
More
Chapter 2 begins by placing these two seemingly contradictory terms in relation: only individuals may be melancholic, and they are so precisely because of their isolation, asociality, or distance from community. This chapter argues instead that melancholy is not something that separates individuals from a community, but that melancholy is the very form and content of community itself. Through a reading of solitude and a yearning for the ever-absent community in Rousseau; the melancholic nature of the Kantian subject; the superimposition of philosophy and melancholy in Heidegger, the chapter calls for a joining of these two terms toward a reading of community that is neither a goal nor an end, neither a presupposition nor a destination, but the condition, both singular and plural, of our complete existence.Less
Chapter 2 begins by placing these two seemingly contradictory terms in relation: only individuals may be melancholic, and they are so precisely because of their isolation, asociality, or distance from community. This chapter argues instead that melancholy is not something that separates individuals from a community, but that melancholy is the very form and content of community itself. Through a reading of solitude and a yearning for the ever-absent community in Rousseau; the melancholic nature of the Kantian subject; the superimposition of philosophy and melancholy in Heidegger, the chapter calls for a joining of these two terms toward a reading of community that is neither a goal nor an end, neither a presupposition nor a destination, but the condition, both singular and plural, of our complete existence.
T.P. Wiseman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780859898225
- eISBN:
- 9781781385500
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780859898225.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
Ennius referred in his Annales to Naevius’ earlier poem on the Punic War as written ‘in the verses which of old the Fauns and prophets chanted’. This chapter explores what Fauns and prophets were, as ...
More
Ennius referred in his Annales to Naevius’ earlier poem on the Punic War as written ‘in the verses which of old the Fauns and prophets chanted’. This chapter explores what Fauns and prophets were, as a way of identifying elements of the pre-literary Roman world that were still remembered in the second century BC. Fauni were prophetic deities of the wild; human prophets were familiar figures at Rome as late as the first century AD, important as sources of knowledge for the majority of Roman citizens who did not read books. The title of Ennius’ Annales probably has less to do with the year-by-year annals of the Republic than with a thousand-year conception of Roman history from the foundation (Romulus as Aeneas’ grandson) to the triumph of M. Fulvius Nobilior in 187 BC.Less
Ennius referred in his Annales to Naevius’ earlier poem on the Punic War as written ‘in the verses which of old the Fauns and prophets chanted’. This chapter explores what Fauns and prophets were, as a way of identifying elements of the pre-literary Roman world that were still remembered in the second century BC. Fauni were prophetic deities of the wild; human prophets were familiar figures at Rome as late as the first century AD, important as sources of knowledge for the majority of Roman citizens who did not read books. The title of Ennius’ Annales probably has less to do with the year-by-year annals of the Republic than with a thousand-year conception of Roman history from the foundation (Romulus as Aeneas’ grandson) to the triumph of M. Fulvius Nobilior in 187 BC.
T.P. Wiseman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780859898225
- eISBN:
- 9781781385500
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780859898225.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
The god to whom sacrifice was made at the Lupercal on 15 February is variously named in our sources as Pan Lykaios, Faunus, Lupercus and Inuus. This chapter offers a detailed diachronic analysis of ...
More
The god to whom sacrifice was made at the Lupercal on 15 February is variously named in our sources as Pan Lykaios, Faunus, Lupercus and Inuus. This chapter offers a detailed diachronic analysis of the evidence for the festival, and the legends of Evander and Romulus that were connected with it, from Eratosthenes in the third century BC to Mantuanus in AD 1481. The earliest strata, illustrated on bronze mirrors of the fourth century BC, are concerned with sexual energy and desire; a later reinterpretation involved the Roman cavalry (equites), and the flagellation ritual evidently introduced in 276 BC developed into an elaborate ceremony that was still carried out in late antiquity. A form of Lupercalia was performed in tenth-century Constantinople, and flagellation of women became a deplorable Shrove-Tuesday ‘carnival’ custom in early modern Europe.Less
The god to whom sacrifice was made at the Lupercal on 15 February is variously named in our sources as Pan Lykaios, Faunus, Lupercus and Inuus. This chapter offers a detailed diachronic analysis of the evidence for the festival, and the legends of Evander and Romulus that were connected with it, from Eratosthenes in the third century BC to Mantuanus in AD 1481. The earliest strata, illustrated on bronze mirrors of the fourth century BC, are concerned with sexual energy and desire; a later reinterpretation involved the Roman cavalry (equites), and the flagellation ritual evidently introduced in 276 BC developed into an elaborate ceremony that was still carried out in late antiquity. A form of Lupercalia was performed in tenth-century Constantinople, and flagellation of women became a deplorable Shrove-Tuesday ‘carnival’ custom in early modern Europe.
Eleni Manolaraki
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199644094
- eISBN:
- 9780191745010
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199644094.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This essay examines Amphiaraus’ auspicy and derivative episodes in the Thebaid from the perspective of Statius’ narrative and narrating contexts. Statius forges an exegetical bond that welds his ...
More
This essay examines Amphiaraus’ auspicy and derivative episodes in the Thebaid from the perspective of Statius’ narrative and narrating contexts. Statius forges an exegetical bond that welds his aesthetic values to the hermeneutics of auspicy, and he accomplishes this by engaging his readership in a sign–inference process parallel to the auspical experience. His is a double aim: to present his Thebaid as a didactic discourse equivalent to divination, and to critique the political stakes of mantic practices in the history of imperial Rome. The contested interpretation of celestial signs in the pursuit of power, with paradigms as old as Romulus and as recent as Vespasian, fuels Statius’ complicating of this episode beyond the confines of the ‘epic omen’ topos.Less
This essay examines Amphiaraus’ auspicy and derivative episodes in the Thebaid from the perspective of Statius’ narrative and narrating contexts. Statius forges an exegetical bond that welds his aesthetic values to the hermeneutics of auspicy, and he accomplishes this by engaging his readership in a sign–inference process parallel to the auspical experience. His is a double aim: to present his Thebaid as a didactic discourse equivalent to divination, and to critique the political stakes of mantic practices in the history of imperial Rome. The contested interpretation of celestial signs in the pursuit of power, with paradigms as old as Romulus and as recent as Vespasian, fuels Statius’ complicating of this episode beyond the confines of the ‘epic omen’ topos.
Philip A. Stadter
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- December 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198718338
- eISBN:
- 9780191787638
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198718338.003.0023
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Alexander Hamilton, a young aide to George Washington during the American revolution and future Founding Father, made notes while reading Theseus–Romulus and Lycurgus–Numa in the winter of 1777–8 ...
More
Alexander Hamilton, a young aide to George Washington during the American revolution and future Founding Father, made notes while reading Theseus–Romulus and Lycurgus–Numa in the winter of 1777–8 while the army was encamped at Valley Forge. He noted especially items concerned with constitutions, education, and slavery. Monarchy and the institutions that limited it, such as the Spartan ephorate and the Roman senate, attract his attention, as well as the relation between monarch and populace. He is impressed by Lycurgus’ division of property, but passes over other economic issues. He makes frequent notes on social practices and Numa’s religious institutions, and carefully copied out some thirty-three lines of Plutarch’s account of the Spartan helots. He gave little attention to military, but shows unusual curiosity on scientific, philosophical, and anthropological matters. His scribbled observations in the midst of war catch one of the most brilliant of the Founding Fathers of the United States eagerly studying ancient government structures and practices as guidelines for his own thinking.Less
Alexander Hamilton, a young aide to George Washington during the American revolution and future Founding Father, made notes while reading Theseus–Romulus and Lycurgus–Numa in the winter of 1777–8 while the army was encamped at Valley Forge. He noted especially items concerned with constitutions, education, and slavery. Monarchy and the institutions that limited it, such as the Spartan ephorate and the Roman senate, attract his attention, as well as the relation between monarch and populace. He is impressed by Lycurgus’ division of property, but passes over other economic issues. He makes frequent notes on social practices and Numa’s religious institutions, and carefully copied out some thirty-three lines of Plutarch’s account of the Spartan helots. He gave little attention to military, but shows unusual curiosity on scientific, philosophical, and anthropological matters. His scribbled observations in the midst of war catch one of the most brilliant of the Founding Fathers of the United States eagerly studying ancient government structures and practices as guidelines for his own thinking.
Greta Hawes
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199672776
- eISBN:
- 9780191775253
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672776.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
Plutarch’s Theseus presents both a rationalized biography of this mythical figure, and a kind of commentary on the role of the Athenian hero in tragedy and Atthidography. This chapter argues that the ...
More
Plutarch’s Theseus presents both a rationalized biography of this mythical figure, and a kind of commentary on the role of the Athenian hero in tragedy and Atthidography. This chapter argues that the striking map metaphor of the prologue establishes a useful set of generic distinctions which pervade the rest of the account, but that it falls short of accounting entirely for the diversity of mythic approaches in practice. Theseus became a key figure in the early history of the city in Athenian thought, and an alternate rationalistic mythology developed to support this reputation. By contrast, Plutarch’s Romulus is concerned with a figure whose ritual and imperialistic resonances were such that they precluded the development of a fully rationalistic biography.Less
Plutarch’s Theseus presents both a rationalized biography of this mythical figure, and a kind of commentary on the role of the Athenian hero in tragedy and Atthidography. This chapter argues that the striking map metaphor of the prologue establishes a useful set of generic distinctions which pervade the rest of the account, but that it falls short of accounting entirely for the diversity of mythic approaches in practice. Theseus became a key figure in the early history of the city in Athenian thought, and an alternate rationalistic mythology developed to support this reputation. By contrast, Plutarch’s Romulus is concerned with a figure whose ritual and imperialistic resonances were such that they precluded the development of a fully rationalistic biography.
Simon Hornblower
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- July 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198723684
- eISBN:
- 9780191790775
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198723684.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Ancient Religions
Campania receives very full treatment by Kassandra. Naples is especially prominent, and the relevant section ends at the poem’s exact middle point. This is a deliberate emphasizing device: Naples was ...
More
Campania receives very full treatment by Kassandra. Naples is especially prominent, and the relevant section ends at the poem’s exact middle point. This is a deliberate emphasizing device: Naples was of maritime importance in the Roman war against Hannibal and earlier. Hannibal’s visit to the oracle of the dead at Campanian Aornos is hinted at by Kassandra. The important narrative about Aineias and the twins Romulus and Remus is examined for topicality in the 190s. Dido’s surprising absence from the Alexandra is noted and explained.Less
Campania receives very full treatment by Kassandra. Naples is especially prominent, and the relevant section ends at the poem’s exact middle point. This is a deliberate emphasizing device: Naples was of maritime importance in the Roman war against Hannibal and earlier. Hannibal’s visit to the oracle of the dead at Campanian Aornos is hinted at by Kassandra. The important narrative about Aineias and the twins Romulus and Remus is examined for topicality in the 190s. Dido’s surprising absence from the Alexandra is noted and explained.
