thersites. Journal for Transcultural Presences and Diachronic Identities from Antiquity to Date
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Die palmyrenische Königin Zenobia als Werbeikone für Seife
No full textThis article analyses, as an example of the advertising of cosmetic products, a campaign launched by the US-American company “Johnson Soap” for their product, the facial soap “Palmolive”. Examining its ads of 1911 in which certain ancient exempla are employed, it becomes clear that the Palmyrene queen Zenobia and with her the semi-historical Semiramis and the more mythical Dido are aligned with the “1001 Nights” character Scheherazade. Since they are jointly labelled as “historically famous oriental queens” and because of the reference to Zenobia’s white skin, they can be analysed according to the fantasy of fair-skinned harem women, which evokes thoughts of all the pleasures and comforts of the luxurious Orient (including a racist subtext). To the modern female customer of 1900 (well steeped in the knowledge of those ancient characters) Zenobia and the other exempla are meant to serve as celebrities worth emulating. Above all these queens are deemed to be beautiful and experts in cosmetics, which should guarantee the effect of the product they are standing for. Such findings prove to be valid even today in an advertising concept for the Syrian-German “Zhenobya-soap”.This article analyses, as an example of the advertising of cosmetic products, a campaign launched by the US-American company “Johnson Soap” for their product, the facial soap “Palmolive”. Examining its ads of 1911 in which certain ancient exempla are employed, it becomes clear that the Palmyrene queen Zenobia and with her the semi-historical Semiramis and the more mythical Dido are aligned to the “1001 Nights” character Scheherazade. Since they are jointly labelled as “historically famous oriental queens” and because of the reference to Zenobia’s white skin, they fall into the fantasy of fair-skinned harem women and evoke thoughts of all the pleasures and comforts of the luxurious Orient. To the modern female customer of 1900 (well steeped in the knowledge of those ancient characters) Zenobia and the other exempla should serve as celebrities worth emulating. Above all they are deemed to be beautiful, and experts in cosmetics which would guarantee the effect of the product they are standing for. A finding that proves to be valid even in an advertising concept of today for the Syrian-German “Zhenobya-soap”
A Saturnalian Poet as a Literary Critic: The Carnivalesque Poetics of Martial’s Apophoreta 183-196
No full textThis paper analyzes a specific section of Martial’s Apophoreta (Book 14), the ‘list’ of fourteen literary works that the poet-persona suggests to the reader as potentially suitable presents to give to friends on the occasion of the Saturnalia. It focuses strictly on the literary aspects of the poems and their underlying carnivalesque poetics. This includes an assessment of the logic of the poems’ arrangement and alleged inconsistencies. It is suggested that the section be read as a complex statement of Martial’s on various works and genres of Greek and Roman literature. The last couplet of the section (14.196), a certain Calvus’ work ‘On the use of cold water’ (De aquae frigidae usu), which is unidentifiable, receives particular attention, for previous scholarship has wasted a lot of ink on guessing what kind of work this may have been, thereby losing touch with the rich (meta-)poetics the couplet actually conveys.This paper analyzes a specific section of Martial’s Apophoreta (Book 14), the ‘list’ of fourteen literary works that the poet-persona suggests to the reader as potentially suitable presents to give to friends on the occasion of the Saturnalia. It focuses strictly on the literary aspects of the poems and their underlying carnivalesque poetics. This includes an assessment of the logic of the poems’ arrangement and alleged inconsistencies. It is suggested that the section be read as a complex statement of Martial’s on various works and genres of Greek and Roman literature. The last couplet of the section (14.196), a certain Calvus’ work ‘On the use of cold water’ (De aquae frigidae usu), which is unidentifiable, receives particular attention, for previous scholarship has wasted a lot of ink on guessing what kind of work this may have been, thereby losing touch with the rich (meta-)poetics the couplet actually conveys
Etymologie und Erotik: Properz schreibt das elegische Rom
No full textProperz’ viertes Elegienbuch wird üblicherweise unter dem Blickwinkel der dort ausgebreiteten antiquarischen Gelehrsamkeit betrachtet. Doch bei genauerem Hinsehen handelt es sich nicht nur um einen Neueinsatz, sondern auch um die Fortsetzung des liebeselegischen Schreibens der ersten drei Bücher – also um die Themen Aitiologie und Liebe.Propertius’ fourth book of elegies is generally read with respect to the antiquarian and aetiological learning presented there. But it is as well the continuation of the erotic themes that Propertius has developed in the first three books – book 4 is on both aetiology and love
Vorwort: tessellae
No full textProlegomena to thersites 11, "tessellae – Birthday Issue for Christine Walde
„An Herrn Prof. A. Wlosok“: Über eine der ersten Latinistikprofessorinnen im deutschsprachigen Raum – eine Spurensuche im Jahr 2020
No full textIm Vergleich zu anderen europäischen Ländern waren (und sind) Professorinnen in der Klassischen Philologie in Deutschland stark unterrepräsentiert. Antonie Wlosok (1930–2013) war seit 1974 bis zu ihrer Emeritierung 1998 Ordentliche Professorin für Klassische Philologie an der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (JGU) und damit die erste oder zweite Frau, die in Deutschland einen Lehrstuhl für Klassische Philologie innehatte. Wie lässt sich das Wirken Wlosoks an der JGU insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund einer sehr männlich geprägten Wissenschaftswelt aus heutiger Perspektive beschreiben? Anhand von Zeugnissen aus dem Universitätsarchiv sowie ausgewählten Publikationen möchte dieser Aufsatz eine anekdotische Spurensuche unternehmen, die auch ein Schlaglicht auf aktuelle Debatten um Frauen in der Wissenschaft wirft.In contrast to other European countries, female professors of Classical Philology have been severely underrepresented in Germany. This article wants to shed light on Antonie Wlosok (1930–2013), the first or second woman to hold a Chair of Classical Philology in Germany. How can Wlosok’s work at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz be described, considering especially the very male-dominated academic world? Based on testimonials from the university archives and selected publications, this essay aims to give insights to this question, highlighting current debates about women in academia
Review of Silvio Bär & Emily Hauser (eds.), Reading Poetry, Writing Genre. English Poetry and Literary Criticism in Dialogue with Classical Scholarship: Bloomsbury Academic (London & New York 2019) (Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception), xii & 256 p. ISBN: 978-1-350-03932-2, $ 102.60 (hb)
No full textDie Tabula Traiana und Drăgans Decebalus: symbolische Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Serbien und Rumänien an der Donau
No full textSince 2004 a giant portrait of the ancient Dacian king Decebalus can be seen by people visiting the Đerdap national park in Serbia or sailing along the Danube. The location is carefully chosen: the ancient king is located on the other side of the river, within the Romanian Parcul Natural Porțile de Fier, but is carved in the rock so to look in the direction from where, at the beginning of the 2nd century CE, the Romans came to move war to him and his people. Not by chance, on the Serbian side of the river and not far away from the sculpture is the Tabula Traiana, a Roman inscription celebrating the opening of the Roman road leading here in 100 CE. This article moves from the role of ancient Rome in the historical cultures and national identities of the two countries facing each other here, Serbia and Romania, in order to explain how the Romans represented a ‘contested identity’ and therefore why, at the end of the 20th century, the Romanian nationalistic millionaire G. C. Drăgan decided to invest a humongous quantity of money in the realization of the sculpture of Decebalus.Since 2004 a giant portrait of the ancient Dacian king Decebalus can be seen by people visiting the Đerdap national park in Serbia or sailing along the Danube. The location is carefully chosen: the ancient king is located on the other side of the river, within the Romanian Parcul Natural Porțile de Fier, but is carved in the rock so to look in the direction from where, at the beginning of the 2nd century CE, the Romans came to move war to him and his people. Not by chance, on the Serbian side of the river and not far away from the sculpture is the Tabula Traiana, a Roman inscription celebrating the opening of the Roman road leading here in 100 CE. This article moves from the role of ancient Rome in the historical cultures and national identities of the two countries facing each other here, Serbia and Romania, in order to explain how the Romans represented a ‘contested identity’ and therefore why, at the end of the 20th century, the Romanian nationalistic millionaire G. C. Drăgan decided to invest a humongous quantity of money in the realization of the sculpture of Decebalus
Funerary Masks and the Geopolitical Use of Classical Archaeology in Nationalist Disputes
No full textFunerary masks are a trans-cultural phenomenon that involves, in different ways and times, the whole ancient Mediterranean due to their particular power to showcase individuality, as concentrated in the face and head. The discussion on the origin of this custom in Ancient Macedonia during the Archaic Period has been strongly influenced by the identity narratives based on different national archaeologies. Previous and current interpretations are, indeed, deeply influenced by the quest for identifying the ethnicity of ancient Macedonians and their relationship to present nation states. Transformed into material evidence of ethnic identity, masks are involved in complex exegeses. On the one hand, Greek archaeology emphasizes an approach based on continuity theses, which can be summarized in the formula “memories of Mycenaean funerary customs” to emphasize a direct link between the Archaic and Mycenaean periods. On the other hand, masks played a key role in the construction of the modern Macedonian national myth and narrative, as proofs for Macedonian identity descended from the most distant past
Review of Eran Almagor and Lisa Maurice (eds.), The Reception of Ancient Virtues and Vices in Modern Popular Culture. Beauty, Bravery, Blood and Glory: Brill (Leiden/Boston 2017) (= Metaforms 11), XIV + 424 pp., 32 mostly color illustrations. ISBN: 9789004347724, € 149.00 (hb, also available as e-book)
No full textCesare nella Troade: l’impossibile rinascita del passato
No full textCaesar’s visit to the ruins of ancient Troy in Lucan’s Bellum Civile book IX is an invented story which deals with important metaliterary themes such as poetic fama and the poetry’s eternalizing function. Lucan’s narrative also reveals the instrumental nature of Caesarean and Augustan propaganda: the Neronian poet highlights some contradictions of the Aeneid, showing the failure of the political project celebrated by Vergil.La visita di Cesare alla Troade è un'invenzione lucanea, che ha importanti significati metaletterari in relazione a concetti quali la fama e la memoria garantite dalla poesia. L'episodio è costruito in modo da sfruttare alcune incongruenze e forzature della propaganda augustea e virgiliana, rivelandone impietosamentre la natura letteraria e strumentale. In questo modo viene messo in crisi il progetto di rinascita dopo le guerre civili poirtato avanti da Augusto e celebrato nella poesia virgiliana