1,720,965 research outputs found
Dionysian associations and the Bacchanalian affair
Full text linkThis chapter explores the social dynamics of Bacchic worship in mid-Republican Rome and the extent to which Livy’s narrative of the events, when compared to the senatus consultum de bacchanalibus, enables us to reconstruct a coherent picture of Bacchic worship in this period. The article argues two main points. (a) Bacchic worship as targeted in the senatus consultum was wide rang-ing and diverse, as reflected by the decree. A brief sketch of the classical evidence for Bacchic worship from Italy confirms the multifaceted forms of worship that we should anticipate for mid-Republican groups, rather than apply retrospective considerations of highly structured associations as suggested for Imperial colle-gia, based to a certain degree on legal sources. (b) When comparing the evidence supplied by Livy in book 39 to the regulations enacted by the senate in 186 BCE, important discrepancies can be observed with regard to the gender constellations of the worshipping groups: while Livy identifies female worshippers and a priest-ess (who allowed for male participation in the cult) as main culprits for the de-bauchery, the senatus consultum is formulated in favour of female participants and priestesses as well as mixed-gender groups. This discrepancy can perhaps be explained by Livy’s own moralising agenda and Augustan ideas of gender-spe-cific behaviour. It should not be seen, however, as an actual reflection of the so-cial dynamics of Bacchic groups in mid-Republican Rome
Turnus Donning Tragedy: The Baldric in Virgil’s Aeneid
Full text linkIt is argued that the baldric (Latin balteus) that Turnus strips from the corpse of Pallas (Aeneid
10.495–505) and wears in his duel with Aeneas (12.939–953) has tragic resonances, and that it functions as a
symbol for tragedy like the coturnus worn by Venus at Aeneid 1.337. The main evidence for this argument is
lexical data from fragments of antiquarian texts by Varro and Accius, preserved by the late antique grammarian
Nonius Marcellus. The scenes involving the baldric are read against their epic and tragic background, and some
tragic mythical resonances are explored
Tribute and Dismay: A Coda to the Scholarly Friendship of Eduard Fraenkel and Roger Mynors
No full textThe article presents and provides context for the address that Roger Mynors gave at the memorial service for Eduard Fraenkel in May 1970. Mynors spoke of Fraenkel’s origins and international connections, his career, especially at Oxford, his teaching and scholarly method, his character and dependence on his wife. He also said that Fraenkel was ‘quite wrong’ to end his own life but adds nuance to that judgement. An introduction and annotations to the address draw on archival testimony to the two scholars’ friendship (including letters) and on contact with people who knew both, some of whom attended the memorial service. A 1967 letter from Fraenkel to Mynors is included. The documents illuminate the role of academic networks and labour and both scholars’ place in the history of classical scholarship. The article concludes with personal recollections from three scholars who were close to the events of the time, in response to the documents discussed here
Scott McGill. Virgil. Aeneid. Book XI. Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9781107071339 (hardcover); 9781107416789 (softcover). Pp. viii + 307. 26.99
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Virgilius superat Calabrum: La Cerda on the "imitation" of Quintus of Smyrna in the Aeneid
No full textThe Jesuit polymath and Virgil commentator Juan Luis de La Cerda
(1558/60–1643) believed that in writing the Aeneid Virgil had imitated and improved
upon the Posthomerica of Quintus of Smyrna. This chapter considers the Renaissance
rediscovery of Quintus’ poem and the scholarly context in which La Cerda came to
think of it as a model for Virgil’s epic. Following an overview of La Cerda’s citations of
Quintus throughout the Aeneid commentary, the chapter turns to the notes on Aeneid
2, Aeneas’ account of the fall of Troy, which overlaps with Posthomerica 12 and 13,
as well as with Triphiodorus’ epic poem on the same subject. La Cerda’s criticism is
geared towards teaching verse composition within a rhetorical framework of poetic
imitatio. Quotations from Quintus are used to support the argument that Virgil
surpassed Homer as well as Quintus himself. Parallels from Quintus serve to illustrate
the kinship of epic and historiography, two genres that should arouse the reader’s
emotions. La Cerda uses Quintus parallels not only to assert Virgil’s excellence in the
poetic tradition, but also to draw interpretative conclusions about the Aeneid
Envoi: The Infinite View. A response to Ahuvia Kahane, 'Political Geometries'
No full textThis book brings together an international group of artists and writers to respond to the question of how our new world orders force us to reconsider urban spaces and walking in ways which extend into the digital sphere
Mystery Cult in Vergil
Full text linkIn this paper we begin with a brief survey of the presence of the mysteries in Greek and Latin epic poetry, before giving an overview of the mysteries in Vergil and attempting to identify the function of the references to mystery religion in Aeneid 6. Throughout, we consider the modality of how the poets allude to the mysteries in ways that allow mystery cults to take on a life of their own in imaginative literary representations, arriving at the conclusion that it is only by means of closer collaboration between literary critics and historians of religion that progress will be made in this complex field of study
Apollo and Dionysus in Virgil
Full text linkThis article examines passages in Virgil’s Eclogues and Aeneid in which the two gods Apollo and Dionysus are paired or found in close proximity. It offers an interpretation of these passages in light of the relations between Apollo and Dionysus in antiquity, with particular focus on the religious propaganda of triumviral and early Augustan Rome. The article is framed in terms of the influence on classical studies of Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy (1872). Two conclusions are that Nietzsche cannot be entirely bypassed in a modern study of Apollo and Dionysus in antiquity, and that Bacchus/Dionysus/Liber is more important to Octavian-Augustus than is sometimes appreciated. Questo articolo esamina alcuni passi delle Ecloghe e dell’Eneide in cui le due divinità Apollo e Dioniso compaiono affiancate o strettamente associate. L’interpretazione di questi passi è condotta alla luce dei rapporti tra Apollo e Dioniso nell’antichità, con particolare attenzione alla propaganda religiosa degli anni del triumvirato fino alla prima età augustea. L’articolo è impostato tenendo conto dell’influenza che La nascita della tragedia di Nietzsche (1872) ha esercitato sugli studi classici. Due conclusioni sono che Nietzsche non può essere trascurato del tutto in un moderno studio su Apollo e Dioniso nell’antichità, e che Bacco/Dioniso/ Libero è per Ottaviano, poi Augusto, una divinità più importante di quanto talora si valuti
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