thersites. Journal for Transcultural Presences and Diachronic Identities from Antiquity to Date
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Nota sul Silio Italico ‹politico› negli epigrammi di Marziale
No full textIn Martial’s epigrams Silius Italicus is portrayed as a man of learning, author of the Punica and admirer of Vergil’s works, but also as a public figure and a former consul of Rome. My paper focuses on the epigrams devoted to the ‘political’ Silius, and suggests to relate them mainly to a certain stage in Silius Italicus’ life and to a specific communication strategy
Review of Donna Zuckerberg: Not All Dead White Men. Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age
No full textI film peplum e la fine del mito fascista della romanità
No full textAs both classicist and historians have shown, the myth of romanità was one of the key elements at the core of Italian nationalism and Fascist ideology, that in 1937 found its most famous cinematographic expression through the film Scipione l’Africano. After the fall of the Fascist regime and the end of the war, and during the 1950s, new peplum films produced new Italian representations of ancient Rome. These new movies reversed the old, Fascist exaltation of Roman imperial power into a Catholic condemnation of it as a violent and anti-Christian dictatorship. An historical analysis of post-war Italian films on ancient Rome can therefore enlighten the change in perception of totalitarianism and national identity in Italian society. It can moreover study the post-Fascist transition by showing changes and continuities in culture after the fall of the regime. Among the Fascist continuities, the analysis of post-war historical films clearly shows the persistence of a colonialist, racially white national identity as well as a Catholic and Italian self-representation as peaceful and innocent victims of Fascism. The condemnation of totalitarianism coexists therefore with the lack of a public admission of guilt in regards of Fascism, colonialism, racism and war.  
Review of Helen Roche & Kyriakos Demetriou: Brill’s Companion to the Classics, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany
No full textThe Origins and Evolution of Ancient Spartan Identity in the Mani Peninsula, Greece
No full textThrough a careful analysis of the historical records of travels to the Mani peninsula from the 16th century onward, I argue that the commonly-ascribed identity of the Maniots, as descended directly from the Spartans of Classical Antiquity, is a modern construction that was: a) externally imposed; and b) created largely in the 18th century. In this article, I provide a timeline of Spartan identification in Mani, discuss the historical, military, and political circumstances that led to the formation of this identification, and conclude with a brief examination of the modern re-appropriation of ancient Spartan identity in recent years within the far-right fascist political group, Golden Dawn, whose leading members identified strongly both with Mani and ancient Sparta. Ultimately, in this work I provide context for the progression and evolution of Spartan identity in this small corner of the Greek world
Leonidas in Stalingrad: Gebrauch, Wirkung und Wahrnehmung antiker Motive und Mythen in der 6. Armee
No full textEnduring Stalingrad: The Sixth Army consisting of about 250,000 men was trapped in the pocket of Stalingrad for more than 70 days in 1942/43. Based on conclusive source material this paper will discuss how German soldiers of different age and rank tried to cope with this extreme battle experience. Specific mental strategies employed are being analyzed, i.e. classical references to Greco-Roman literature, language, and history. For some (educated) soldiers, antiquity played a vital role in keeping up morale, in enduring, if not surviving Stalingrad.Enduring Stalingrad: The Sixth Army consisting of about 250,000 men was trapped in the pocket of Stalingrad for more than 70 days in 1942/43. Based on conclusive source material this paper will discuss how German soldiers of different age and rank tried to cope with this extreme battle experience. Specific mental strategies employed are being analyzed, i.e. classical references to Greco-Roman literature, language, and history. For some (educated) soldiers, antiquity played a vital role in keeping up morale, in enduring, if not surviving Stalingrad
Rezension von Eva Marlene Hausteiner: Greater than Rome. Neubestimmungen britischer Imperialität 1870–1914
No full textAlatri in the Sky with Diamonds: Resisting Romanization in present-day Italy
No full textThis article focuses on the Cyclopean masonry walls of the city of Alatri, in the Latium Vetus, and on their role in the present identity-building process. Traditional chronology for these structures — now also supported by data from stratigraphic excavations — places them in the 4th century BC, in the context of the Samnite Wars, in which this city of Hernician origin fought as an ally of Rome. Alternative theories, with deep roots in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and widespread among the inhabitants of Alatri, date these imposing walls many centuries earlier, and ascribe their construction to a group of Hittites who were fleeing from their capital Hattusa in Asia Minor and settled in central Italy. Dealing with pseudo-archaeologists and amateur scholars and their relationship to scientific archaeology, the case study addressed in this paper deals with the widespread problem of the relationship between mainstream archaeology and pseudo-archaeology, and their role in the identity-building process based on archaeological discourses.The complex problem of the relationship between the adoption of a multivocal approach and the dissemination of scientific results among society will also be analysed, also through a comparison with the case of Sardinia.L’articolo è incentrato sulle mura in opera poligonale della città di Alatri, nel Latium Vetus e sul loro ruolo nella costruzione delle identità presenti. La cronologia tradizionale per queste strutture, oggi suffragata anche da dati provenienti da scavi stratigrafici, le pone al IV sec. a. C., realizzate nel contesto delle lotte tra i Romani e i Sanniti, contesto nel quale, la città di origine ernica fu al fianco di Roma. Alcune teorie alternative, con profonde radici nel diciannovesimo e ventesimo secolo e popolari fra la comunità di Alatri, vorrebbero queste mura imponenti, realizzate molti secoli prima, addirittura da un gruppo di Ittiti in fuga dalla capitale Hattusa, in Asia Minore. Tra aspiranti archeologi e studiosi dilettanti, il caso studio discusso in questo articolo affronta il più generale problema del rapporto tra L’archeologia ufficiale e la pseudo-archeologia, e il loro ruolo nella costruzione delle identità basate sul discorso archeologico. Sarà, inoltre, analizzato, anche attraverso il confronto col caso della Sardegna, il complesso problema del rapporto tra esigenze di apertura alla multivocalità e quelle di informare correttamente la società dei risultati scientifici
