1,721,004 research outputs found
Il tragico e il paradossale: le proscrizioni dei triumviri nella Storia romana di Appiano
No full textThe article examines the section devoted to the individual stories of the triumviral proscriptions (43-42 BC) in book 4 of Appian’s Civil Wars, with a focus on its structure, the use of the sources, and the narrative techniques deployed by the author. The analysis interprets this section in the light of two trends typical of Greek historiographical writing, namely the so-called ‘tragic history’ and the paradoxical literature, showing Appian’s mastery of these narrative tools, as well as his engagement with the Greek historiographical and philosophical reflections of the Classical and Hellenistic period, from Thucydides to Aristotle and Polybius. The results demonstrate that the section on the triumviral proscriptions should not be seen as a mere digression with respect to the main body of Appian’s historical narrative, but rather as an integral part of it. The aim of the section was to present the readers with a sequence of individual stories which, although undoubtedly theatrical and paradoxical, were nonetheless described as truthful
Introduction
No full textShort introduction to the volume "Languages of Science between Western and Eastern Civilizations": presentation and summary of the contributions
«Quo nemo insolentius». La ‘superbia’ di Parrasio e l'autoaffermazione dell'artista nella Grecia classica
No full textThrough the analysis of three epigrams attributed to Parrhasius, as well as of further information about this artist found in later authors (Pliny, Athenaeus,
Aelian), the paper tries to reassess the extent of artistic self-representation in classical Greece. The author argues that the epigrams are not a literary falsification: in fact, they fit perfectly into the artistic and philosophical debate of the late 5th cent. BC. Along with other documents preserved in literary sources, the epigrams shed light on the effort made by Greek artists in order to achieve a new social status, better than that of simple ‘manual workers’: Parrhasius represents himself as a refined, educated man, in short as an intellectual; he praises his own achievements in the art of painting, due to a mix of inborn faculties and divine inspiration. The effort of Parrhasius was common to many classical artists, but in the end it proved largely uneffective because of the later predominance of Plato's negative view of art
Osservazioni sul testo della tavola latina di Eraclea (CIL I2 593)
Full text linkL'articolo presenta diverse proposte di miglioramento al testo dell'edizione corrente della tavola latina di Eraclea (CIL I2 593), anche grazie al confronto con passi paralleli della tradizione giuridica romana
For Whom Hesperus Shines: An Astronomical Allusion in Roman Epithalamic Poetry
No full textThis paper reconstructs the history and meaning of a hitherto unexplained astronomical allusion recurring several times in Roman epithalamic poetry: the association of the evening star with Mount Oeta. By examining the iterations of this motif in surviving Latin literature (especially Catullus 62, Vergil's Eclogue 8 and the pseudo-Vergilian Ciris), I propose to explain the original meaning of this association as a mythological reference to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, offering a reconstruction of the Hellenistic epithalamic context where it was probably invented, and an interpretation of its function in each of the poems under consideration. The results of this analysis shed new light on some of the most well-known texts of Latin literature, allowing us to understand how this allusion was used to explore the relations between the genres of epithalamic poetry, bucolic and epyllion
Review of: Jérôme Sella, Tenir le loup par les oreilles: Prendre le pouvoir et le conserver dans la Rome imperiale des premiers siècles. Collection Époques. Ceyzérieu: Champ Vallon, 2020
No full textDiscussion of the book by Jérôme Sella, "Tenir le loup par les oreilles: Prendre le pouvoir et le conserver dans la Rome imperiale des premiers siècles", Ceyzérieu 2020
Res nondum iudicata: l’ethos di Silla tra inclinazione naturale e corruzione del potere
No full textRoman historical tradition has regarded Sulla as a paradigm of the moral corruption resulting from the exercise of absolute power. However, this negative characterisation only concerns the last part of the dictator’s life, after his victory in the civil war, and not his previous career, which on the contrary is always viewed positively in the sources; this unexplained inconsistency gives the impression of an elusive and enigmatic character. The present paper identifies Livy as the creator of this ‘double portrait’ of Sulla. As can be reconstructed from the periocha of book 88, the historian changed abruptly from a positive to a negative view of Sulla immediately after the account of the battle at the Colline Gate in 82 BC. The following account focused on three key episodes (the massacre of the prisoners of war, the destruction of Praeneste, the execution of Gratidianus) to which Livy must have attributed central importance in the economy of his narrative. The insistent recurrence of these exempla in the subsequent historiographical, rhetorical, and philosophical tradition confirms that Livy’s version of the events had immediately become canonical. The negative characterisation of the protagonist was achieved by omitting the motives behind his actions, thus suggesting that his choices were driven only by arbitrariness and cruelty. Livy’s choice reveals a design to present Sulla as an exemplary negative model, whose story was meant to warn readers of the dangers of absolute power: even a man like Sulla, faithful to the traditional Roman ethics, scrupulously respectful of the laws, loved and protected by the gods, could become dangerous for his fellow-citizens once invested with a power lacking institutional limits. The author proposes that the contemporary referent whom Livy intended to warn could be Tiberius, in his capacity as designated heir to Augustus
Tensam non tenuit. Cicerone, Arnobio e il modo di condurre i carri sacri
No full textArnobius nat. 4,31 contains a reference, borrowed from Cicero har. resp. 23, to the tensae, the chariots used in the procession preceding the circus games (pompa circensis) to carry the sacred objects belonging to the statues of the Gods. Both Arnobius’ and Cicero’s passages are corrupt in the manuscript tradition, since the scribes changed the difficult word tensam in the much simpler form terram. Cicero’s text was restored as early as the 16th century by Antonio Agustín, but Arnobius’ was not, since the Christian author has always been thought to have derived his reference from an already corrupt copy of Cicero’s oration. Relying on literary as well as archaeological evidence, the paper argues that the reading terram is illogical and that in the early 4th century, when Arnobius wrote his Adversus nationes, the ancient tensae were still in use for circus processions.
For these reasons neither Arnobius, nor his readers could find the expression terram non tenuit acceptable. The scribal simplification tensam > terram could only take place, in both Cicero’s and Arnobius’ texts, after the word tensam had become no longer understandable, which means not before the 5th century (after the end of pagan processions and cults)
Echephylidas (409)
No full textEdition, translation, and commentary of the fragments of the historian Echephylidas, with biographical essay and bibliograph
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