Bernhard Zimmermann
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199232536
- eISBN:
- 9780191716003
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232536.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter offers a challenge to the classification of Seneca's tragedies as ‘rhetorical tragedies’ or declamations. Although the idea that Seneca's tragedies might have been partially danced had ...
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This chapter offers a challenge to the classification of Seneca's tragedies as ‘rhetorical tragedies’ or declamations. Although the idea that Seneca's tragedies might have been partially danced had been suggested as early as the 1920s, the chapter argues that Seneca's tragedies contain several types of passage that point precisely to the character of a fabula saltata (‘danced story’), and that this suggests that even if Seneca did not write them specifically for pantomime performance, that is as libretti, he may have been influenced by the new aesthetics and conventions of the popular medium in the composition of these scenes. He may have been visualising, as he wrote, a theatrical performance with dance and music rather than a recitation. He may have hoped that his new kind of tragedy, suited to the taste of the Neronian period, could offer a substitute for the popular genres of theatre.Less
This chapter offers a challenge to the classification of Seneca's tragedies as ‘rhetorical tragedies’ or declamations. Although the idea that Seneca's tragedies might have been partially danced had been suggested as early as the 1920s, the chapter argues that Seneca's tragedies contain several types of passage that point precisely to the character of a fabula saltata (‘danced story’), and that this suggests that even if Seneca did not write them specifically for pantomime performance, that is as libretti, he may have been influenced by the new aesthetics and conventions of the popular medium in the composition of these scenes. He may have been visualising, as he wrote, a theatrical performance with dance and music rather than a recitation. He may have hoped that his new kind of tragedy, suited to the taste of the Neronian period, could offer a substitute for the popular genres of theatre.
Stefan Tilg
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199576944
- eISBN:
- 9780191722486
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576944.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Chapter three investigates Chariton's relation to other early novels and novelists as far as date and authorship are concerned. On grounds of language, style, and apparent borrowings from Chariton, ...
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Chapter three investigates Chariton's relation to other early novels and novelists as far as date and authorship are concerned. On grounds of language, style, and apparent borrowings from Chariton, Xenophon of Ephesus’ Ephesiaca should be put later. The fragmentary novels Metiochus and Parthenope and Chione (the latter transmitted on a late‐antique papyrus) can be assigned to Chariton because of many parallels in plot, style, and motifs. Ninus is more likely to have been written by a different author, who nonetheless seems to have been Aphrodisian: for nowhere in the Graeco‐Roman world was Ninus as significant to the construction of civic identity as in Aphrodisias. Some remarkable correspondences between Ninus and contemporaneous events around Nero suggest a date of this novel after Chariton's Narratives about Callirhoe, in the second half of the 60's AD.Less
Chapter three investigates Chariton's relation to other early novels and novelists as far as date and authorship are concerned. On grounds of language, style, and apparent borrowings from Chariton, Xenophon of Ephesus’ Ephesiaca should be put later. The fragmentary novels Metiochus and Parthenope and Chione (the latter transmitted on a late‐antique papyrus) can be assigned to Chariton because of many parallels in plot, style, and motifs. Ninus is more likely to have been written by a different author, who nonetheless seems to have been Aphrodisian: for nowhere in the Graeco‐Roman world was Ninus as significant to the construction of civic identity as in Aphrodisias. Some remarkable correspondences between Ninus and contemporaneous events around Nero suggest a date of this novel after Chariton's Narratives about Callirhoe, in the second half of the 60's AD.
Elizabeth Keitel
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199558681
- eISBN:
- 9780191720888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558681.003.0020
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter analyses Tacitus's narratives of natural and man-made disasters, with special emphasis on those perpetrated by the principes against their own people. Tacitus consistently shows ...
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This chapter analyses Tacitus's narratives of natural and man-made disasters, with special emphasis on those perpetrated by the principes against their own people. Tacitus consistently shows compassion towards Romans of all classes and does not stress the breakdown of social order among the masses during such disasters. He repeatedly evokes the sack of cities, the quintessential man-made disaster, when describing the tyrannical behaviour of principes such as Tiberius and Nero. Through allusions to Aeneid 2, Tacitus creates a portable, repeatable sack of Troy during the civil wars of AD 69 to underline the gravity of the situation as Italy and Rome suffer serial abuse from various contenders; the common motives of all leaders and armies in making war on their own country; the vicissitudes of fortune during civil war, and the profanation of Rome itself.Less
This chapter analyses Tacitus's narratives of natural and man-made disasters, with special emphasis on those perpetrated by the principes against their own people. Tacitus consistently shows compassion towards Romans of all classes and does not stress the breakdown of social order among the masses during such disasters. He repeatedly evokes the sack of cities, the quintessential man-made disaster, when describing the tyrannical behaviour of principes such as Tiberius and Nero. Through allusions to Aeneid 2, Tacitus creates a portable, repeatable sack of Troy during the civil wars of AD 69 to underline the gravity of the situation as Italy and Rome suffer serial abuse from various contenders; the common motives of all leaders and armies in making war on their own country; the vicissitudes of fortune during civil war, and the profanation of Rome itself.
Runar M. Thorsteinsson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199578641
- eISBN:
- 9780191722868
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199578641.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The chapter begins with an introduction to the life of Seneca (ca. 1–65 CE), who served as emperor Nero's tutor and advisor in the middle of the first century. As a rich moralist, Seneca has often ...
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The chapter begins with an introduction to the life of Seneca (ca. 1–65 CE), who served as emperor Nero's tutor and advisor in the middle of the first century. As a rich moralist, Seneca has often been referred to as a shallow hypocrite, but it is argued here that this is a mistake. Seneca wrote extensively on ethics, and the chapter attempts to present an overview of his moral teaching. Seneca follows the basic idea of the Stoic theory of oikeiosis. According to him, people are by nature inclined to love their neighbour, whatever the identity of the neighbour. The Stoic doctrine of universal humanity runs like a red thread through the entire moral teaching of Seneca. It strongly guides his view and discussion of various topics, including social issues.Less
The chapter begins with an introduction to the life of Seneca (ca. 1–65 CE), who served as emperor Nero's tutor and advisor in the middle of the first century. As a rich moralist, Seneca has often been referred to as a shallow hypocrite, but it is argued here that this is a mistake. Seneca wrote extensively on ethics, and the chapter attempts to present an overview of his moral teaching. Seneca follows the basic idea of the Stoic theory of oikeiosis. According to him, people are by nature inclined to love their neighbour, whatever the identity of the neighbour. The Stoic doctrine of universal humanity runs like a red thread through the entire moral teaching of Seneca. It strongly guides his view and discussion of various topics, including social issues.
Hannah M. Cotton and Werner Eck
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199262120
- eISBN:
- 9780191718533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
In an attempt to elucidate the social and political environment in which Josephus composed his works, this chapter tries to determine the extent to which the Judean writer was ingratiated with the ...
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In an attempt to elucidate the social and political environment in which Josephus composed his works, this chapter tries to determine the extent to which the Judean writer was ingratiated with the imperial court and the local aristocracy at Rome. Prominent in their investigation is the hitherto unidentifiable Epaphroditus to whom Josephus’ final three compositions were dedicated. After parsing the relevant literary and epigraphic evidence, the identity of Josephus’ patron remains problematic. He cannot, with confidence, be identified as Nero’s a libellis (freedman in charge of petitions) or with the freedman M. Mettius Epaphroditus mentioned in the Suda, despite the fact that he was a grammarian and literary critic. The chapter argues that Josephus was excluded from the inner circles of the Roman elite during the first century CE, especially in the second half of his literary career under the Emperor Domitian.Less
In an attempt to elucidate the social and political environment in which Josephus composed his works, this chapter tries to determine the extent to which the Judean writer was ingratiated with the imperial court and the local aristocracy at Rome. Prominent in their investigation is the hitherto unidentifiable Epaphroditus to whom Josephus’ final three compositions were dedicated. After parsing the relevant literary and epigraphic evidence, the identity of Josephus’ patron remains problematic. He cannot, with confidence, be identified as Nero’s a libellis (freedman in charge of petitions) or with the freedman M. Mettius Epaphroditus mentioned in the Suda, despite the fact that he was a grammarian and literary critic. The chapter argues that Josephus was excluded from the inner circles of the Roman elite during the first century CE, especially in the second half of his literary career under the Emperor Domitian.
Fergus Millar
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199262120
- eISBN:
- 9780191718533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter explores in detail the role of the Flavian victory in Judaea in the physical transformation of the city of Rome. The triumph of Vespasian and Titus ex Iudaeis in June 71 CE was an event ...
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This chapter explores in detail the role of the Flavian victory in Judaea in the physical transformation of the city of Rome. The triumph of Vespasian and Titus ex Iudaeis in June 71 CE was an event made more memorable by Josephus’ lavish description of it. The defeat of the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple were enshrined in the very fabric of the urban centre and hence in Roman public memory, reminding the inhabitants of the city of the decisive role played by Vespasian and Titus in that victory. The triumphal arches to Titus (erected in 81 and after his death), the Flavian Amphitheatre (inaugurated in 80), and the Temple of Peace (dedicated in 75) were all related to the Flavian victory in Judaea and helped give the dynasty a lasting legitimacy.Less
This chapter explores in detail the role of the Flavian victory in Judaea in the physical transformation of the city of Rome. The triumph of Vespasian and Titus ex Iudaeis in June 71 CE was an event made more memorable by Josephus’ lavish description of it. The defeat of the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple were enshrined in the very fabric of the urban centre and hence in Roman public memory, reminding the inhabitants of the city of the decisive role played by Vespasian and Titus in that victory. The triumphal arches to Titus (erected in 81 and after his death), the Flavian Amphitheatre (inaugurated in 80), and the Temple of Peace (dedicated in 75) were all related to the Flavian victory in Judaea and helped give the dynasty a lasting legitimacy.
Jerome Murphy-O'Connor
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199266531
- eISBN:
- 9780191601583
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199266530.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
When Paul’s mission in Spain failed, he went back to Illyricum. After a year or so there he travelled via Troas to Ephesus, where he took over from Timothy, who had proved a failure as a leader. Paul ...
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When Paul’s mission in Spain failed, he went back to Illyricum. After a year or so there he travelled via Troas to Ephesus, where he took over from Timothy, who had proved a failure as a leader. Paul himself did no better and moved to Miletus. There he got word of Nero’s persecution of Christians in Rome. He went there to reinforce the decimated community. The gesture was not appreciated by the Roman church, which boycotted him when he was imprisoned. Those who had come with him from Asia drifted away.2 Tim reflects both optimism and fear. He was beheaded in the last quarter of a.d. 67.Less
When Paul’s mission in Spain failed, he went back to Illyricum. After a year or so there he travelled via Troas to Ephesus, where he took over from Timothy, who had proved a failure as a leader. Paul himself did no better and moved to Miletus. There he got word of Nero’s persecution of Christians in Rome. He went there to reinforce the decimated community. The gesture was not appreciated by the Roman church, which boycotted him when he was imprisoned. Those who had come with him from Asia drifted away.2 Tim reflects both optimism and fear. He was beheaded in the last quarter of a.d. 67.
Steven J. Friesen
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195131536
- eISBN:
- 9780199834198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195131533.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Discusses the date and time when Revelation was written, and then considers the role of imperial cults in the generation of the text. The main argument concludes that Revelation was not written ...
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Discusses the date and time when Revelation was written, and then considers the role of imperial cults in the generation of the text. The main argument concludes that Revelation was not written against alleged imperial cult excesses under Nero or Domitian; the evidence for imperial cults from Asia shows that these were not aberrant periods. Rather, Revelation should be interpreted as a critique of the dominant imperial discourse for which mainstream imperial cults were a crucial manifestation.Less
Discusses the date and time when Revelation was written, and then considers the role of imperial cults in the generation of the text. The main argument concludes that Revelation was not written against alleged imperial cult excesses under Nero or Domitian; the evidence for imperial cults from Asia shows that these were not aberrant periods. Rather, Revelation should be interpreted as a critique of the dominant imperial discourse for which mainstream imperial cults were a crucial manifestation.
James Ker
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387032
- eISBN:
- 9780199866793
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387032.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book traces the cultural history of Seneca's forced suicide at the command of Nero, situating it in the Roman imagination and tracing its interpretations from the first century to the present ...
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This book traces the cultural history of Seneca's forced suicide at the command of Nero, situating it in the Roman imagination and tracing its interpretations from the first century to the present day. The earliest historical narratives of the death scene by Tacitus and others were shaped by conventions of Greco-Roman exitus description and Julio-Claudian dynastic history. Seneca's own prolific writings about death—whether anticipating death in his letters, dramatizing it in the tragedies, or offering therapy for loss in the form of consolations—offered the primary lens through which Seneca's contemporaries would view the author's death. Dozens of later interpreters, working in both literary and visual media, from St. Jerome to Heiner Müller and from medieval illuminations to Peter Paul Rubens and Jacques-Louis David, retold the death scene (and the revival of Seneca's wife Paulina) in ways that forged new and sometimes controversial views on Seneca's legacy and, more broadly, on the experience of mortality and suicide. The book presents a new, historically inclusive, approach to reading this major Roman author.Less
This book traces the cultural history of Seneca's forced suicide at the command of Nero, situating it in the Roman imagination and tracing its interpretations from the first century to the present day. The earliest historical narratives of the death scene by Tacitus and others were shaped by conventions of Greco-Roman exitus description and Julio-Claudian dynastic history. Seneca's own prolific writings about death—whether anticipating death in his letters, dramatizing it in the tragedies, or offering therapy for loss in the form of consolations—offered the primary lens through which Seneca's contemporaries would view the author's death. Dozens of later interpreters, working in both literary and visual media, from St. Jerome to Heiner Müller and from medieval illuminations to Peter Paul Rubens and Jacques-Louis David, retold the death scene (and the revival of Seneca's wife Paulina) in ways that forged new and sometimes controversial views on Seneca's legacy and, more broadly, on the experience of mortality and suicide. The book presents a new, historically inclusive, approach to reading this major Roman author.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195389579
- eISBN:
- 9780199866496
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195389579.003.0017
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines Tacitus' representation of the legacy of civil war in his history of the Julio‐Claudian period, the Annals, arguing that civil war persists during the pax Augusta as a kind of ...
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This chapter examines Tacitus' representation of the legacy of civil war in his history of the Julio‐Claudian period, the Annals, arguing that civil war persists during the pax Augusta as a kind of banalization of state violence against citizens, a political system that consumes its own. It studies Tacitus' multi‐episode account of Nero's paranoid, possibly cynical, and ultimately self‐defeating appropriation of civil war exempla to motivate the suppression of potential dissent.Less
This chapter examines Tacitus' representation of the legacy of civil war in his history of the Julio‐Claudian period, the Annals, arguing that civil war persists during the pax Augusta as a kind of banalization of state violence against citizens, a political system that consumes its own. It studies Tacitus' multi‐episode account of Nero's paranoid, possibly cynical, and ultimately self‐defeating appropriation of civil war exempla to motivate the suppression of potential dissent.
James Ker
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387032
- eISBN:
- 9780199866793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387032.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The introduction argues that an examination of Seneca's death will demonstrate both the centrality of Seneca in Western thinking about death and the centrality of the death scene in the tradition on ...
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The introduction argues that an examination of Seneca's death will demonstrate both the centrality of Seneca in Western thinking about death and the centrality of the death scene in the tradition on Seneca's life and various works. It explains the three distinct forms of representation through which Seneca's death is here analyzed: the historical narratives (Part I; Chapters 1–2), the writings of Seneca on death, especially in the consolations, tragedies, and letters (Part II; Chapters 3–6), and the tradition of reception in both word and image (Part III; Chapter 7). It also explains how these three forms of representation are considered together in three concluding case studies on the themes of forced suicide, Seneca's image, and the ruined villa (Part IV; Chapters 8–10).Less
The introduction argues that an examination of Seneca's death will demonstrate both the centrality of Seneca in Western thinking about death and the centrality of the death scene in the tradition on Seneca's life and various works. It explains the three distinct forms of representation through which Seneca's death is here analyzed: the historical narratives (Part I; Chapters 1–2), the writings of Seneca on death, especially in the consolations, tragedies, and letters (Part II; Chapters 3–6), and the tradition of reception in both word and image (Part III; Chapter 7). It also explains how these three forms of representation are considered together in three concluding case studies on the themes of forced suicide, Seneca's image, and the ruined villa (Part IV; Chapters 8–10).
Piero Garofalo
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199588541
- eISBN:
- 9780191741845
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588541.003.0019
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter discusses the influence of Romanticism and Rome upon Italy's emergent film industry between 1908 and 1914. Specifically, it argues that production companies drew upon Romantic aesthetics ...
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This chapter discusses the influence of Romanticism and Rome upon Italy's emergent film industry between 1908 and 1914. Specifically, it argues that production companies drew upon Romantic aesthetics and privileged narratives set in ancient Rome both to legitimize the artistic value of the new medium and to enhance cinema's commercial appeal. After providing an overview of the film industry, Italian Romanticism, and the concept of Romanità, the discussion focuses on three films (The Last Days of Pompeii, Nero or the Fall of Rome, and Cabiria), in which those elements that characterized Italian Romanticism (the appropriation of the classical tradition, nationalism, historicism, the Risorgimento, and art imbued with a civil, political, and moral purpose) are projected onto the screen. The box-office success of historical narratives ensured the industry's financial viability and established film as a relevant and popular art.Less
This chapter discusses the influence of Romanticism and Rome upon Italy's emergent film industry between 1908 and 1914. Specifically, it argues that production companies drew upon Romantic aesthetics and privileged narratives set in ancient Rome both to legitimize the artistic value of the new medium and to enhance cinema's commercial appeal. After providing an overview of the film industry, Italian Romanticism, and the concept of Romanità, the discussion focuses on three films (The Last Days of Pompeii, Nero or the Fall of Rome, and Cabiria), in which those elements that characterized Italian Romanticism (the appropriation of the classical tradition, nationalism, historicism, the Risorgimento, and art imbued with a civil, political, and moral purpose) are projected onto the screen. The box-office success of historical narratives ensured the industry's financial viability and established film as a relevant and popular art.
Jerome Murphy-oʼconnor
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780192853424
- eISBN:
- 9780191670589
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192853424.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Early Christian Studies
Paul's concern about his reception in Jerusalem is mentioned in his Letter to the Romans, the group that he needed to support him if he were to proceed to Spain. Luke described Paul's condition while ...
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Paul's concern about his reception in Jerusalem is mentioned in his Letter to the Romans, the group that he needed to support him if he were to proceed to Spain. Luke described Paul's condition while he was incarcerated in Rome. The chapter speculates that in prison, however, it would have been difficult to receive visitors and make speeches such as those Luke attributes to Paul. The authenticity of the Three Pastoral Letters is also examined in this chapter. Paul was unsuccessful in Spain and returned to the Aegean and then to Rome, after Nero burned the Eternal City. Paul was beheaded in Rome—a manner of execution that is understood to imply that he was condemned by a regularly constituted court. The place of his execution and burial is not yet proven, but popular tradition tells that Paul's body was buried in Via Ostiense.Less
Paul's concern about his reception in Jerusalem is mentioned in his Letter to the Romans, the group that he needed to support him if he were to proceed to Spain. Luke described Paul's condition while he was incarcerated in Rome. The chapter speculates that in prison, however, it would have been difficult to receive visitors and make speeches such as those Luke attributes to Paul. The authenticity of the Three Pastoral Letters is also examined in this chapter. Paul was unsuccessful in Spain and returned to the Aegean and then to Rome, after Nero burned the Eternal City. Paul was beheaded in Rome—a manner of execution that is understood to imply that he was condemned by a regularly constituted court. The place of his execution and burial is not yet proven, but popular tradition tells that Paul's body was buried in Via Ostiense.
Alastair Bellany and Thomas Cogswell
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300214963
- eISBN:
- 9780300217827
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300214963.003.0023
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter discusses how Eglisham's most infamous work continued to percolate through English and Scottish political culture during the 1630s. Discussion of James' murder had not ended with ...
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This chapter discusses how Eglisham's most infamous work continued to percolate through English and Scottish political culture during the 1630s. Discussion of James' murder had not ended with Buckingham's assassination in 1628. Contemporaries continued to circulate and read copies of The Forerunner, and other documents on the secret history, as they tried to understand what had gone so wrong under Buckingham's rule. In one particularly sensational case, elements of the secret history found their way into a play about the Emperor Nero, his favourite, and the problem of tyranny, a drama written, and perhaps even performed, in the English provinces during the 1630s. Despite the surface calm of the Personal Rule, the political culture remained frayed and, on some questions, deeply polarized; and memories of the 1620s remained dangerously contested.Less
This chapter discusses how Eglisham's most infamous work continued to percolate through English and Scottish political culture during the 1630s. Discussion of James' murder had not ended with Buckingham's assassination in 1628. Contemporaries continued to circulate and read copies of The Forerunner, and other documents on the secret history, as they tried to understand what had gone so wrong under Buckingham's rule. In one particularly sensational case, elements of the secret history found their way into a play about the Emperor Nero, his favourite, and the problem of tyranny, a drama written, and perhaps even performed, in the English provinces during the 1630s. Despite the surface calm of the Personal Rule, the political culture remained frayed and, on some questions, deeply polarized; and memories of the 1620s remained dangerously contested.
GIDEON NISBET
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199263370
- eISBN:
- 9780191718366
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263370.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores the textual relationship constructed in the extant epigrams between Loukillios and Nero. Like the preceding chapter, it points out the endemic shortcomings of skoptic epigram as ...
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This chapter explores the textual relationship constructed in the extant epigrams between Loukillios and Nero. Like the preceding chapter, it points out the endemic shortcomings of skoptic epigram as a source for historical ‘facts’, instead developing and testing an ideological reading along Cultural Materialist lines. Previous scholarship has typically used perceived references to Nero as argumentative touchstones, assessing their tone in order to determine when Loukillios wrote and to what extent he benefited from imperial patronage. The chapter demonstrates that these methodologically vague appeals to taste can only produce circular arguments. Because jokes rely on omission and exaggeration, tying them to real-world events will always be hard: even when a joke can be firmly placed in a Neronian context, its exact point will typically remain a matter of educated guesswork. The chapter concludes that Nero's own talent in simulation and allusive display makes the task even harder.Less
This chapter explores the textual relationship constructed in the extant epigrams between Loukillios and Nero. Like the preceding chapter, it points out the endemic shortcomings of skoptic epigram as a source for historical ‘facts’, instead developing and testing an ideological reading along Cultural Materialist lines. Previous scholarship has typically used perceived references to Nero as argumentative touchstones, assessing their tone in order to determine when Loukillios wrote and to what extent he benefited from imperial patronage. The chapter demonstrates that these methodologically vague appeals to taste can only produce circular arguments. Because jokes rely on omission and exaggeration, tying them to real-world events will always be hard: even when a joke can be firmly placed in a Neronian context, its exact point will typically remain a matter of educated guesswork. The chapter concludes that Nero's own talent in simulation and allusive display makes the task even harder.
KRISTINA MILNOR
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199235728
- eISBN:
- 9780191712883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199235728.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter argues that Nero, the last member of Augustus' family to rule in the early Roman empire, is represented as a negative mirror image of his ancestor: whereas the first Julio-Claudian made ...
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This chapter argues that Nero, the last member of Augustus' family to rule in the early Roman empire, is represented as a negative mirror image of his ancestor: whereas the first Julio-Claudian made Rome into the image of a good home, the last constructs it as a bad one. Thus, Nero brings a fitting end both to his own dynasty and the kind of ‘domestic politics’ which characterised the early Roman empire. This picture of Nero serves not only to cast in a particular light the legacy of the Julio-Claudian emperors with regards to women and domesticity, but to mark explicitly a shift in the goals and nature of imperial rule. At the same time, however, Nero's transgressions, and the terms in which they are remembered, serve to underscore the gender and politics of Augustan private life. The succession of Nero comes to be understood as the triumph of the fundamental femininity of Julio-Claudian rule, in both practical and symbolic terms.Less
This chapter argues that Nero, the last member of Augustus' family to rule in the early Roman empire, is represented as a negative mirror image of his ancestor: whereas the first Julio-Claudian made Rome into the image of a good home, the last constructs it as a bad one. Thus, Nero brings a fitting end both to his own dynasty and the kind of ‘domestic politics’ which characterised the early Roman empire. This picture of Nero serves not only to cast in a particular light the legacy of the Julio-Claudian emperors with regards to women and domesticity, but to mark explicitly a shift in the goals and nature of imperial rule. At the same time, however, Nero's transgressions, and the terms in which they are remembered, serve to underscore the gender and politics of Augustan private life. The succession of Nero comes to be understood as the triumph of the fundamental femininity of Julio-Claudian rule, in both practical and symbolic terms.
William Slater
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199652143
- eISBN:
- 9780191745935
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199652143.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE, Archaeology: Classical
Nero is reported to have returned in triumph to Rome from his Greek victories on a chariot through a breach in the wall. This remarkable picture has had more ideological influence than it deserves. ...
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Nero is reported to have returned in triumph to Rome from his Greek victories on a chariot through a breach in the wall. This remarkable picture has had more ideological influence than it deserves. It is argued that victors never returned through holes in the wall, that they often did not return at all; when they did, the central action was called ‘introducing the crown’. So-called ‘eiselastic’ = ‘drive-in’ victories in fact entitled one primarily to lifetime pensions, and are an invention of Trajan, whose impractical rulings caused trouble among victors demanding payment, and were modified by succeeding emperors. But the system of monthly pensions for ‘eiselastic’ victory can be followed accurately until 250 ad. Finally, it is argued that the old classical-hellenistic division of elite crown games versus cash games is replaced in the epigraphy by (sacred) eiselastic games versus cash games, and crowns cease to have real meaning save in the iconography, which tends obviously to focus on the crown, long after its elite meaning has ceased. A notorious inscription from Rhodes ca. 200 ad which speaks anomalously of ‘cash crowned games’ is examined and found on correction to fit with the usual division and the thesis proposed above.Less
Nero is reported to have returned in triumph to Rome from his Greek victories on a chariot through a breach in the wall. This remarkable picture has had more ideological influence than it deserves. It is argued that victors never returned through holes in the wall, that they often did not return at all; when they did, the central action was called ‘introducing the crown’. So-called ‘eiselastic’ = ‘drive-in’ victories in fact entitled one primarily to lifetime pensions, and are an invention of Trajan, whose impractical rulings caused trouble among victors demanding payment, and were modified by succeeding emperors. But the system of monthly pensions for ‘eiselastic’ victory can be followed accurately until 250 ad. Finally, it is argued that the old classical-hellenistic division of elite crown games versus cash games is replaced in the epigraphy by (sacred) eiselastic games versus cash games, and crowns cease to have real meaning save in the iconography, which tends obviously to focus on the crown, long after its elite meaning has ceased. A notorious inscription from Rhodes ca. 200 ad which speaks anomalously of ‘cash crowned games’ is examined and found on correction to fit with the usual division and the thesis proposed above.
Stefano Rebeggiani
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190251819
- eISBN:
- 9780190251833
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190251819.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
A new reading of Statius’ main poem and its relationship with the cultural and political life at Rome under Domitian is given. This book studies in detail the poem’s view of power and its interaction ...
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A new reading of Statius’ main poem and its relationship with the cultural and political life at Rome under Domitian is given. This book studies in detail the poem’s view of power and its interaction with historical contexts. Written under Domitian and in the aftermath of the civil war of 69 CE, the Thebaid uses the veil of myth to reflect on the political reality of Imperial Rome. The poem presents itself to its audience and to the emperor as a lesson on effective kingship and a warning on the fragility of power. Rooted in a pessimistic view of human beings and human relationships, the Thebaid reflects on the harsh necessity of monarchical power as the only antidote to a world always on the verge of returning to chaos. In the absence of the gods, the fate of human communities lies in the hands of the individuals in power. Although humans, and especially kings, are fragile and often the prey of irrational passions, the Thebaid expresses the hope that an illuminated sovereign endowed with clementia [mercy] may offer a solution to the political crisis of the Roman Empire. Statius’ narrative also responds to Domitian’s problematic interaction with Nero, whom Domitian regarded as both a negative model and a source of inspiration. This book shows that the Thebaid is particularly close to the intellectual activities and political views formulated by groups of Roman aristocrats who survived Nero’s repression and that the poem is influenced by an initial phase in Domitian’s regime characterized by a positive relationship between the emperor and the Roman elite.Less
A new reading of Statius’ main poem and its relationship with the cultural and political life at Rome under Domitian is given. This book studies in detail the poem’s view of power and its interaction with historical contexts. Written under Domitian and in the aftermath of the civil war of 69 CE, the Thebaid uses the veil of myth to reflect on the political reality of Imperial Rome. The poem presents itself to its audience and to the emperor as a lesson on effective kingship and a warning on the fragility of power. Rooted in a pessimistic view of human beings and human relationships, the Thebaid reflects on the harsh necessity of monarchical power as the only antidote to a world always on the verge of returning to chaos. In the absence of the gods, the fate of human communities lies in the hands of the individuals in power. Although humans, and especially kings, are fragile and often the prey of irrational passions, the Thebaid expresses the hope that an illuminated sovereign endowed with clementia [mercy] may offer a solution to the political crisis of the Roman Empire. Statius’ narrative also responds to Domitian’s problematic interaction with Nero, whom Domitian regarded as both a negative model and a source of inspiration. This book shows that the Thebaid is particularly close to the intellectual activities and political views formulated by groups of Roman aristocrats who survived Nero’s repression and that the poem is influenced by an initial phase in Domitian’s regime characterized by a positive relationship between the emperor and the Roman elite.
Lauren Donovan Ginsberg
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190275952
- eISBN:
- 9780190275976
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190275952.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book situates the Octavia within the literary and political context of Nero’s reign and the years after his death. As a product of these turbulent years, the Octavia powerfully challenges the ...
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This book situates the Octavia within the literary and political context of Nero’s reign and the years after his death. As a product of these turbulent years, the Octavia powerfully challenges the image of the Julio-Claudians as bringers of peace. Instead, it re-envisions their history as a series of bloody civil wars that the imperial family waged on itself and on its people. In order to rewrite the dynasty’s history, the Octavia engages with the literature of Julio-Claudian Rome, using the words of celebrated authors to stage a new reading of the past that fills the drama with conflicting memories of what the first imperial family meant to Rome. Chief among these are Vergil’s Aeneid and Lucan’s Bellum Civile, strife-ridden epics that bookend the dynasty’s time in power with very different ideologies of one-man rule. The words of Horace, Livy, Propertius, Ovid, and Seneca also hover behind the play’s language, as do more public scripts like the Res Gestae. The play opens a dialogue about literary versions of history and about the legitimacy of those accounts. Through an innovative combination of intertextual analysis and cultural memory theory, the book elucidates the roles that literature and the literary manipulation of memory play in negotiating the transition between the Julio-Claudian and Flavian regimes. It thus claims for the Octavia a central role in current debates over the ways in which Nero and his family were remembered, as well as the politics of literary and cultural memory in the early Roman Empire.Less
This book situates the Octavia within the literary and political context of Nero’s reign and the years after his death. As a product of these turbulent years, the Octavia powerfully challenges the image of the Julio-Claudians as bringers of peace. Instead, it re-envisions their history as a series of bloody civil wars that the imperial family waged on itself and on its people. In order to rewrite the dynasty’s history, the Octavia engages with the literature of Julio-Claudian Rome, using the words of celebrated authors to stage a new reading of the past that fills the drama with conflicting memories of what the first imperial family meant to Rome. Chief among these are Vergil’s Aeneid and Lucan’s Bellum Civile, strife-ridden epics that bookend the dynasty’s time in power with very different ideologies of one-man rule. The words of Horace, Livy, Propertius, Ovid, and Seneca also hover behind the play’s language, as do more public scripts like the Res Gestae. The play opens a dialogue about literary versions of history and about the legitimacy of those accounts. Through an innovative combination of intertextual analysis and cultural memory theory, the book elucidates the roles that literature and the literary manipulation of memory play in negotiating the transition between the Julio-Claudian and Flavian regimes. It thus claims for the Octavia a central role in current debates over the ways in which Nero and his family were remembered, as well as the politics of literary and cultural memory in the early Roman Empire.
Kelly E. Shannon-Henderson
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- December 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198832768
- eISBN:
- 9780191871283
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198832768.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Ancient Religions
This study demonstrates the importance of references to religious material in Tacitus’ Annals by analyzing them using cultural memory theory. Throughout his narrative of Julio-Claudian Rome in the ...
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This study demonstrates the importance of references to religious material in Tacitus’ Annals by analyzing them using cultural memory theory. Throughout his narrative of Julio-Claudian Rome in the Annals, Tacitus includes numerous references to the gods, fate, fortune, astrology, omens, temples, priests, emperor cult, and other religious material. Tacitus, who was not only a historian but also a member of Rome’s quindecimviral priesthood, shows a marked interest in even the most detailed rituals of Roman religious life. Yet his portrayal of religious material also suggests that the system is under threat with the advent of the principate. Traditional rituals are forgotten as the shape of the Roman state changes. Simultaneously, a new form of cultic commemoration develops as deceased emperors are deified and the living emperor and his family members are treated in increasingly worshipful ways by his subjects. The study traces the deployment of religious material throughout Tacitus’ narrative, to show how Tacitus views the development of this cultic ‘amnesia’ over time, from the reign of the cryptic, autocratic, and oddly mystical Tiberius, through Claudius’ failed attempts at reviving tradition, to the final sacrilegious disasters of the impious Nero.Less
This study demonstrates the importance of references to religious material in Tacitus’ Annals by analyzing them using cultural memory theory. Throughout his narrative of Julio-Claudian Rome in the Annals, Tacitus includes numerous references to the gods, fate, fortune, astrology, omens, temples, priests, emperor cult, and other religious material. Tacitus, who was not only a historian but also a member of Rome’s quindecimviral priesthood, shows a marked interest in even the most detailed rituals of Roman religious life. Yet his portrayal of religious material also suggests that the system is under threat with the advent of the principate. Traditional rituals are forgotten as the shape of the Roman state changes. Simultaneously, a new form of cultic commemoration develops as deceased emperors are deified and the living emperor and his family members are treated in increasingly worshipful ways by his subjects. The study traces the deployment of religious material throughout Tacitus’ narrative, to show how Tacitus views the development of this cultic ‘amnesia’ over time, from the reign of the cryptic, autocratic, and oddly mystical Tiberius, through Claudius’ failed attempts at reviving tradition, to the final sacrilegious disasters of the impious Nero.
