DOCSLIB.ORG

Giton's Performance of Status in the Satyrica of Petronius

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Giton's Performance of Status in the Satyrica of Petronius Giton’s Performance of Status in the Satyrica of Petronius Konnor Lee Clark A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2019 Reading Committee Catherine M. Connors, Chair Deborah Kamen Sarah Levin-Richardson Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Classics ©Copyright 2019 Konnor Lee Clark University of Washington Abstract Giton’s Performance of Status in the Satyrica of Petronius Konnor Lee Clark Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Catherine M. Connors Classics The character Giton in Petronius’s Satyrica represents one of the most multifaceted characters in this piece of literature. The thesis of this dissertation is that Giton performs slavery in various ways throughout the novel, and his interactions with others reinforce this claim. Firstly, Giton is represented as performing a variety of tasks and roles typically assigned to enslaved persons: he serves as a bath attendant, he cooks, and he guides. Giton also is sexually objectified by a variety of characters in the novel in ways that are similar to the sexual objectification of slaves. Similarly, the narrator and fellow character Encolpius denies Giton’s subjectivity by objectifying and feminizing the boy. Finally, some of the ways in which Giton performs slavery are emblematic of Roman comedy’s clever slave. This investigation into how Petronius represents Giton’s multifaceted embodiment and enactment of slavery advances our understanding of enslaved persons and their status by analyzing Giton’s actions and interactions as social performances. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ v INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 Background on the Satyrica and Petronius ................................................................................. 1 Genre ........................................................................................................................................... 2 Characters in the Satyrica ........................................................................................................... 4 Summary of the Extant Plot ........................................................................................................ 6 Review of Previous Literature and Theoretical Approach .......................................................... 8 Dissertation Contribution .......................................................................................................... 14 Giton’s Freeborn Status ............................................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER 1: GITON AS SLAVE ............................................................................................... 25 A Jack of All Trades: Giton’s Slave Roles ............................................................................... 25 Perception is Everything: How Other Characters View Giton ................................................. 42 CHAPTER 2: GITON AS SEX OBJECT .................................................................................... 51 Sexual Attraction to Giton......................................................................................................... 54 Feminization and Objectification .............................................................................................. 63 Giton’s Desire: A Willing Slave? ............................................................................................. 68 CHAPTER 3: GITON AND ENCOLPIUS .................................................................................. 75 Giton as Brother Yet Boy Slave ................................................................................................ 76 Giton Feminized ........................................................................................................................ 87 Giton’s Mock Suicide................................................................................................................ 93 CHAPTER 4: GITON THE COMIC SLAVE .............................................................................. 99 Intelligence .............................................................................................................................. 101 Improvisation and Manipulation ............................................................................................. 107 Setting the Stage: Giton’s Metatheatricality ........................................................................... 115 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 123 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 129 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my committee for assisting me through this process: Sarah Levin-Richardson, Deb Kamen, and Cathy Connors immeasurably contributed to my thinking, and without their invaluable attention to this dissertation, it would not be half of what it is today. Their combined skillsets and insights beautifully created a dream team more thorough, helpful, and enlightening than the one I had even anticipated. My gratitude to Sarah, particularly for stretching my thinking and pointing out my blind spots, and to Deb for being so responsive, thorough, and kind, both on this committee and as my graduate advisor. My gratitude to Cathy for being so knowledgeable, patient, and understanding, both as my committee chair and as an advisor for my Latin teaching. I express my sincerest appreciation for the time and attention that these three wonderful individuals have given to this piece of scholarship. I would also like to thank all the amazing faculty with whom I have had the pleasure of working all these years. The Grinnell Classics faculty formed the basis of my undergraduate education in Classics, and it was Ed Phillips, now Emeritus, who first sparked my love of Latin. Monessa Cummins kicked my still teenage self into high gear, when no one else did, and I still periodically appreciate the effect her tough love had on my motivation for academic self- improvement. The UCLA Classics faculty, during my post-baccalaureate, paved my way to graduate school, and without the counsel and friendship of Bob Gurval and Amy Richlin I would not have continued to my master’s program. Amy reignited my waning love for Classics through her warmth, through her teaching, and by inspiring me to pursue my own interests. She introduced me to Petronius, to Fellini’s Satyricon (what a trip), to Plautus, to satire, to issues of ancient slavery, sexuality, gender, and so many other aspects of Classics that I had not explored before. I thank her from the bottom of my heart for all her years of mentorship, and the v countless ways she has influenced me as a Classics scholar. Likewise, I wish to thank the faculty at the University at Buffalo for all their support as I completed my master’s thesis. John Dugan’s and Martha Malamud’s tireless assistance on my master’s committee was invaluable to my development as a scholar, and I thank them for all their counsel and insight. Lastly, I would like to thank the faculty at the University of Washington, who have been my instructors, advisors, supervisors, mentors, and role models for the last four years of my life. Thank you all for your patience with me, the intellectual and personal growth you have provided me, and your overall passion for our profession; I will truly miss every moment. Finally, I would like to thank the friends and family who supported me throughout this seemingly never-ending process. The friends that I have made in Grinnell, Los Angeles, Buffalo, and Seattle have shown me the glories of life outside Classics, and their general apathy for the academic work that I do has been most reinvigorating. Thanks to my mother for instilling in me my interest in reading, which manifested into a love of fantastical fiction specifically: my youthful love of mythology is what got me into this mess, but my mess of a mother sparked my love of mythology in the first place. Thanks to my grandparents, without whose foundational love and support I would not have been able to continue to my master’s and PhD. It was pure happenstance that both my grandparents’ alma maters were in the same athletic conference as Grinnell, and without their advice to visit my undergraduate campus, I would never have applied, obtained the education that I obtained, or met my current spouse, Lauro; I can never repay them. It is Lauro that I most wish to thank. I have been a student throughout our entire relationship, which, at the time of writing this, has been over eleven wonderful years. He is my rock, my constant, my best friend, and he has kept me sane throughout this whole ridiculous, stressful, wonderful process. Without his willingness to travel the country with me, his support of, if vi disinterest in, my academic journey, and his loving companionship, I would not be where I am today. He is the greatest gift that I have ever received, and I thank him for everything he means to me. vii INTRODUCTION This dissertation focuses on the sixteen-year-old character Giton and his interactions with the other characters of the Satyrica, a novel written by Petronius. I argue
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Faraone Ancient Greek Love Magic.Pdf
    Ancient Greek Love Magic Ancient Greek Love Magic Christopher A. Faraone Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Second printing, 2001 First Harvard University Press paperback edition, 2001 library of congress cataloging-in-publication data Faraone, Christopher A. Ancient Greek love magic / Christopher A. Faraone. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 0-674-03320-5 (cloth) ISBN 0-674-00696-8 (pbk.) 1. Magic, Greek. 2. Love—Miscellanea—History. I. Title. BF1591.F37 1999 133.4Ј42Ј0938—dc21 99-10676 For Susan sê gfir Ãn seautá tfi f©rmaka Æxeiv (Plutarch Moralia 141c) Contents Preface ix 1 Introduction 1 1.1 The Ubiquity of Love Magic 5 1.2 Definitions and a New Taxonomy 15 1.3 The Advantages of a Synchronic and Comparative Approach 30 2 Spells for Inducing Uncontrollable Passion (Ero%s) 41 2.1 If ErÃs Is a Disease, Then Erotic Magic Is a Curse 43 2.2 Jason’s Iunx and the Greek Tradition of Ago%ge% Spells 55 2.3 Apples for Atalanta and Pomegranates for Persephone 69 2.4 The Transitory Violence of Greek Weddings and Erotic Magic 78 3 Spells for Inducing Affection (Philia) 96 3.1 Aphrodite’s Kestos Himas and Other Amuletic Love Charms 97 3.2 Deianeira’s Mistake: The Confusion of Love Potions and Poisons 110 3.3 Narcotics and Knotted Cords: The Subversive Cast of Philia Magic 119 4 Some Final Thoughts on History, Gender, and Desire 132 4.1 From Aphrodite to the Restless
    [Show full text]
  • Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter
    Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter Translated by Firebaugh Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter Table of Contents Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter..........................................................................................................................1 Translated by Firebaugh..........................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................5 I................................................................................................................................................................6 II THE AUTHOR....................................................................................................................................6 III REALISM...........................................................................................................................................8 IV FORGERIES OF PETRONIUS.........................................................................................................9 VOLUME 1.ADVENTURES OF ENCOLPIUS AND HIS COMPANIONS................................................11 CHAPTER THE FIRST.........................................................................................................................11 CHAPTER THE SECOND...................................................................................................................12 CHAPTER THE THIRD.......................................................................................................................12
    [Show full text]
  • Women in Criminal Trials in the Julio-Claudian Era
    Women in Criminal Trials in the Julio-Claudian Era by Tracy Lynn Deline B.A., University of Saskatchewan, 1994 M.A., University of Saskatchewan, 2001 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Classics) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) September 2009 © Tracy Lynn Deline, 2009 Abstract This study focuses on the intersection of three general areas: elite Roman women, criminal law, and Julio-Claudian politics. Chapter one provides background material on the literary and legal source material used in this study and considers the cases of Augustus’ daughter and granddaughter as a backdrop to the legal and political thinking that follows. The remainder of the dissertation is divided according to women’s roles in criminal trials. Chapter two, encompassing the largest body of evidence, addresses the role of women as defendants, and this chapter is split into three thematic parts that concentrate on charges of adultery, treason, and other crimes. A recurring question is whether the defendants were indicted for reasons specific to them or the indictments were meant to injure their male family members politically. Analysis of these cases reveals that most of the accused women suffered harm without the damage being shared by their male family members. Chapter three considers that a handful of powerful women also filled the role of prosecutor, a role technically denied to them under the law. Resourceful and powerful imperial women like Messalina and Agrippina found ways to use criminal accusations to remove political enemies. Chapter four investigates women in the role of witnesses in criminal trials.
    [Show full text]
  • Beauty on Display Plato and the Concept of the Kalon
    BEAUTY ON DISPLAY PLATO AND THE CONCEPT OF THE KALON JONATHAN FINE Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2018 © 2018 Jonathan Fine All rights reserved ABSTRACT BEAUTY ON DISPLAY: PLATO AND THE CONCEPT OF THE KALON JONATHAN FINE A central concept for Plato is the kalon – often translated as the beautiful, fine, admirable, or noble. This dissertation shows that only by prioritizing dimensions of beauty in the concept can we understand the nature, use, and insights of the kalon in Plato. The concept of the kalon organizes aspirations to appear and be admired as beautiful for one’s virtue. We may consider beauty superficial and concern for it vain – but what if it were also indispensable to living well? By analyzing how Plato uses the concept of the kalon to contest cultural practices of shame and honour regulated by ideals of beauty, we come to see not only the tensions within the concept but also how attractions to beauty steer, but can subvert, our attempts to live well. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii 1 Coordinating the Kalon: A Critical Introduction 1 1 The Kalon and the Dominant Approach 2 2 A Conceptual Problem 10 3 Overview 24 2 Beauty, Shame, and the Appearance of Virtue 29 1 Our Ancient Contemporaries 29 2 The Cultural Imagination 34 3 Spirit and the Social Dimension of the Kalon 55 4 Before the Eyes of Others 82 3 Glory, Grief, and the Problem of Achilles 100 1 A Tragic Worldview 103 2 The Heroic Ideal 110 3 Disgracing Achilles 125 4 Putting Poikilia in its Place 135 1 Some Ambivalences 135 2 The Aesthetics of Poikilia 138 3 The Taste of Democracy 148 4 Lovers of Sights and Sounds 173 5 The Possibility of Wonder 182 5 The Guise of the Beautiful 188 1 A Psychological Distinction 190 2 From Disinterested Admiration to Agency 202 3 The Opacity of Love 212 4 Looking Good? 218 Bibliography 234 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “To do philosophy is to explore one’s own temperament,” Iris Murdoch suggested at the outset of “Of ‘God’ and ‘Good’”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ideal of Lucretia in Augustan Latin Poetry
    University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2013-05-07 The Ideal of Lucretia in Augustan Latin Poetry Waters, Alison Waters, A. (2013). The Ideal of Lucretia in Augustan Latin Poetry (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28172 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/705 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY The Ideal of Lucretia in Augustan Latin Poetry by Alison Ferguson Waters A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND ROMAN STUDIES CALGARY, ALBERTA MAY 2013 © Alison Ferguson Waters 2013 ii Abstract This study concerns the figure of Lucretia as she is presented by the Roman historian Livy in the first book of Ab Urbe Condita, where she is intended as an example of virtue, particularly in terms of her attention to woolworking. To find evidence for this ideal and how it was regarded at the time, in this study a survey is made of woolworking references in the contemporary Augustan poets Vergil, Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid. Other extant versions of the Lucretia legend do not mention woolworking; Livy appears to have added Lucretia’s devotion to wool, a tradition in keeping with Augustan propaganda.
    [Show full text]
  • Pliny the Elder and the Problem of Regnum Hereditarium*
    Pliny the Elder and the Problem of Regnum Hereditarium* MELINDA SZEKELY Pliny the Elder writes the following about the king of Taprobane1 in the sixth book of his Natural History: "eligi regem a populo senecta clementiaque, liberos non ha- bentem, et, si postea gignat, abdicari, ne fiat hereditarium regnum."2 This account es- caped the attention of the majority of scholars who studied Pliny in spite of the fact that this sentence raises three interesting and debated questions: the election of the king, deposal of the king and the heredity of the monarchy. The issue con- cerning the account of Taprobane is that Pliny here - unlike other reports on the East - does not only use the works of former Greek and Roman authors, but he also makes a note of the account of the envoys from Ceylon arriving in Rome in the first century A. D. in his work.3 We cannot exclude the possibility that Pliny himself met the envoys though this assumption is not verifiable.4 First let us consider whether the form of rule described by Pliny really existed in Taprobane. We have several sources dealing with India indicating that the idea of that old and gentle king depicted in Pliny's sentence seems to be just the oppo- * The study was supported by OTKA grant No. T13034550. 1 Ancient name of Sri Lanka (until 1972, Ceylon). 2 Plin. N. H. 6, 24, 89. Pliny, Natural History, Cambridge-London 1989, [19421], with an English translation by H. Rackham. 3 Plin. N. H. 6, 24, 85-91. Concerning the Singhalese envoys cf.
    [Show full text]
  • Transantiquity
    TransAntiquity TransAntiquity explores transgender practices, in particular cross-dressing, and their literary and figurative representations in antiquity. It offers a ground-breaking study of cross-dressing, both the social practice and its conceptualization, and its interaction with normative prescriptions on gender and sexuality in the ancient Mediterranean world. Special attention is paid to the reactions of the societies of the time, the impact transgender practices had on individuals’ symbolic and social capital, as well as the reactions of institutionalized power and the juridical systems. The variety of subjects and approaches demonstrates just how complex and widespread “transgender dynamics” were in antiquity. Domitilla Campanile (PhD 1992) is Associate Professor of Roman History at the University of Pisa, Italy. Filippo Carlà-Uhink is Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter, UK. After studying in Turin and Udine, he worked as a lecturer at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and as Assistant Professor for Cultural History of Antiquity at the University of Mainz, Germany. Margherita Facella is Associate Professor of Greek History at the University of Pisa, Italy. She was Visiting Associate Professor at Northwestern University, USA, and a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the University of Münster, Germany. Routledge monographs in classical studies Menander in Contexts Athens Transformed, 404–262 BC Edited by Alan H. Sommerstein From popular sovereignty to the dominion
    [Show full text]
  • Senecan Tragedy and Virgil's Aeneid: Repetition and Reversal
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 Senecan Tragedy and Virgil's Aeneid: Repetition and Reversal Timothy Hanford Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/427 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] SENECAN TRAGEDY AND VIRGIL’S AENEID: REPETITION AND REVERSAL by TIMOTHY HANFORD A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2014 ©2014 TIMOTHY HANFORD All Rights Reserved ii This dissertation has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in Classics in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Ronnie Ancona ________________ _______________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Dee L. Clayman ________________ _______________________________ Date Executive Officer James Ker Joel Lidov Craig Williams Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract SENECAN TRAGEDY AND VIRGIL’S AENEID: REPETITION AND REVERSAL by Timothy Hanford Advisor: Professor Ronnie Ancona This dissertation explores the relationship between Senecan tragedy and Virgil’s Aeneid, both on close linguistic as well as larger thematic levels. Senecan tragic characters and choruses often echo the language of Virgil’s epic in provocative ways; these constitute a contrastive reworking of the original Virgilian contents and context, one that has not to date been fully considered by scholars.
    [Show full text]
  • The Recollections of Encolpius
    The Recollections of Encolpius ANCIENT NARRATIVE Supplementum 2 Editorial Board Maaike Zimmerman, University of Groningen Gareth Schmeling, University of Florida, Gainesville Heinz Hofmann, Universität Tübingen Stephen Harrison, Corpus Christi College, Oxford Costas Panayotakis (review editor), University of Glasgow Advisory Board Jean Alvares, Montclair State University Alain Billault, Université Jean Moulin, Lyon III Ewen Bowie, Corpus Christi College, Oxford Jan Bremmer, University of Groningen Ken Dowden, University of Birmingham Ben Hijmans, Emeritus of Classics, University of Groningen Ronald Hock, University of Southern California, Los Angeles Niklas Holzberg, Universität München Irene de Jong, University of Amsterdam Bernhard Kytzler, University of Natal, Durban John Morgan, University of Wales, Swansea Ruurd Nauta, University of Groningen Rudi van der Paardt, University of Leiden Costas Panayotakis, University of Glasgow Stelios Panayotakis, University of Groningen Judith Perkins, Saint Joseph College, West Hartford Bryan Reardon, Professor Emeritus of Classics, University of California, Irvine James Tatum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire Alfons Wouters, University of Leuven Subscriptions Barkhuis Publishing Zuurstukken 37 9761 KP Eelde the Netherlands Tel. +31 50 3080936 Fax +31 50 3080934 [email protected] www.ancientnarrative.com The Recollections of Encolpius The Satyrica of Petronius as Milesian Fiction Gottskálk Jensson BARKHUIS PUBLISHING & GRONINGEN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GRONINGEN 2004 Bókin er tileinkuð
    [Show full text]
  • Marriage in Roman Law
    YALE LAW JOURNAL VOL. XVI. MARCH, 1907. No. 5 MARRIAGE IN ROMAN LAW. 'TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH TEXT BY ANDREW I'. BIRRKAN, D. C. L.; EDITED BY CHARLES P. SHERMAN, D. C. L., INSTRUCTOR IN ROMAN LAW, YALE LAW SCHOOL Monogamy was, among the Romans, a traditional custom, ordained by the positive law: Neminem, qui sub dicione sit Romani nominis, binas uxores habere posse vulgo patet, cum et in edicto praetoris huiusmodi viri infamia notati sint. Quam rem covpetensjudex, inultam esse non patietur. (Cod. 5, 5, 2.) In Roman Law, marriage is a status created by a simple pri- vate agreement. Its validity results from this understanding and is absolutely independent of the betrothal which ordinarily precedes, of physical cohabitation (nuptias non concubitus, sed con- sensusfadt, says Ulpian in the Digest), of the festivities or of the religious ceremony by which it may be accompanied; it is finally independent of any settlement which confirms the pecuniary terms of the union and serves as its evidence. However, accord- ing to the opinion of many authors, Roman marriage, even of the last period, was never formed simply by the mere exchange of consents; it presupposed a mode of living characterized by public acts of various kinds. That the concordant wills alone did not suffice is, in the first place, shown by the fact, that marriage may take place outside of the presence of the future husband, providing the bride should be brought to his house; finally, and above all, it could not take place in the absence of the bride, since in this case she could not possibly be at the hus- band's disposal.
    [Show full text]
  • The Vestal Habit
    THE VESTAL HABIT Andrew B. Gallia* In her epochal study of the Vestal virgins, Mary Beard called attention to the ambiguous position of these priestesses in relation to the normative categories of gender in Roman society.1 Drawing on the insights of structural anthropology, she argued that this ambiguity was central to the Vestals’ sacredness. Essentially, her interpretation rests on the proposition that, by combining features relating to the status of unmarried daughters (virgines) with those of married women (matronae), the priestesses became in themselves vessels for the symbolic mediation between culturally opposed categories that Claude Lévi-Strauss, Mary Douglas, and others have identified as a central function of myth and ritual.2 Although the underlying observation about the peculiarity of the Vestals’ “sexual status” must ultimately be allowed to stand, more recent work on the inherent instability of categories of sex and gender suggests that we ought to revisit the problem of the priestesses’ ambiguity, paying closer attention to the socially contingent nature of its production.3 In this article, I will confine my discussion to an aspect of gender construction that Beard regarded as essential to establishing the matronal piece of the Vestals’ supposed interstitiality: * Published in Classical Philology 109.3 (2014). 1 Beard 1980. 2 Beard 1980, 23-4; cf. Lévi-Strauss 1955, 437-42; Douglas 1969, 163-70; Leach 1976, 34-6. 3 Butler 1990; Fausto Sterling 2000. For social-historical critiques of Beard’s original thesis, see Gardner 1986, 22-6; Cancik-Lindemaier 1990; Scardigli 2003; Gallia 2015. Note also the subsequent self-critique of Beard 1995, although this account is avowedly “not concerned with ‘how the facts fit’” (169).
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient Roman Civilization
    ANCIENT ROMAN CIVILIZATION HANDOUT PACKAGE FALL 2009 HISTORY 4322/6322 Dr. Peter J. Brand 1 MOST ANCIENT ROME: ORIGINS AND BEGINNINGS Legend of Trojan origins: dates back at least to 5th century BCE, when Greek historian Hellanicus refers to it. Trojan hero Aeneas, in flight from Troy, lands on Italian coast and intermarries with Latin ruling family. His descendants are Romulus and Remus. Aeneas himself was worshipped in Rome under the label Iuppiter Indiges (“native Jupiter”). She-Wolf Legend: current in Italy by late 5th or earlier 4th century, though not clearly with reference to Rome. A statue of babies Romulus and Remus with she-wolf is known to have been set up in Rome as early as 296 BCE. “Latial”/ “Villanovan” settlement on Palatine Hill, which Romans regarded as site of Romulus’ original settlement Sabine component of Roman population: (1) early inhabitants of Quirinal Hill (2) Term for people “Quirites,” originally referring to Sabines, later used for Romans as group. (3) Legend of Sabine women probably is ex-post-facto explanation of Sabine component in Roman makeup. Foundation of Rome: traditionally agreed as being April 21, 753; Roman time-reckoning was generally in terms of so many years “since the founding of the city” (ab urbe condita, abbreviated AUC) Etruscan kings of Rome: Tarquinius Priscus (# 5) and Tarquin the Proud (# 7). The traditional date of his expulsion is 509 BCE. The Republic was believed to have begun immediately afterwards, but this is complicated by Lars Porsenna (of Clusium): attacked, and probably took Rome after Tarquin the Proud was expelled, but did not reinstall him.
    [Show full text]