Durham E-Theses Excursio per Orientem: eastern subjects in Tacitus' Histories and Annals Miravalles, Ana Cecilia How to cite: Miravalles, Ana Cecilia (2004) Excursio per Orientem: eastern subjects in Tacitus' Histories and Annals, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2985/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Ana Cecilia Miravalles Excursio per Orientem Eastern Subjects in Tacitus' Histories and Annals A copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Master ofArts by Research University of Durham -2004- ~ 3 JUN 2005 Ana Cecilia Miravalles Excursio per Orientem. Eastern Subjects in Tacitus' Histories and Annals Abstract TI1is study examines Tacitus' treatment of eastern topics in sections of the Histories and the Annals related to trips from or to Rome. It aims to show that those sections, though involving non-Roman subject matter, are essentially connected with the main subject matter about Roman politics that articulate the narratives of the Histories and the Annals: the consolidation of the Principate, the legitimacy of the emperors' power, the territorial expansion of the empire and the responses of the Roman institutions to those new realities. Thus the internal structure and the connection with the surrounding narrative of each episode as well as the references to mythical and historical accounts and characters (from remote and recent history), and to ruins, sanctuaries and cuh statues are explored. Chapter 1 (Titus' trip and the consultation of the sanctuary of Paphos, Hist. 2. 1-4) suggests that the remoteness of the place and of the traditions and Titus' oracle, do not divert the attention, but emphasise the beginning of the Flavian revolt. Chapter 2 examines Vespasian's visits to the sanctuaries in Mount Carmel in Syria and in Alexandria in Egypt (Hist. 2. 78 and 4. 81-84). Chapter 3 deals with the account ofthe siege of Jerusalem and the digression on the Jews (Hist. 5.1-13). Chapter 4 is about Germanicus' eastern trip (Ann. 2. 56-61). And fmally, chapter 5 (Ann. 2.47; 3. 60-65; 4. 13-14; 4. 55-56 and 12. 61-63) examines the interventions in the Senate of eastern ambassadors who ask for concessions such as tax remissions, rights of asylum and rights for constructing temples. The argument is made that these sections introduce a further temporal and geographical perspective for the understanding of the main axis of the Histories and oftheAnnals. Table of Contents Acknowledgements 3 Introduction 4 1- Titus' Journey 8 1.1. The row1dabout route 9 1. 2. The traveller : Titus 16 1. 3. The roundabout 21 1.4. Conclusion 30 2- Two Oracles for Vespasian 32 2.1. The open secret: The consultation of Mount Carmel 34 2.2. A display of divine favour: Vespasian in Alexandria 42 2.3. Conclusion 51 3- Titus in Jerusalem 52 3.1. The siege 54 3.2. The death notice 65 3.2. Conclusion 76 4- Germanicus' Eastern trip 77 4.1. The itinerary 79 4.2. Cicerones 96 4.3. Conclusion 106 5- Greek Ambassadors in the Roman Senate 107 5.1. Nature, myths and monuments: the distant past 110 5.2. The relationship with the Romans: the recent past and the Empire 120 5.3. Conclusion 124 Conclusion 126 Bibliography 129 2 Statement of copyright "The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without their prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged" 3 AclrnowBedgements I wrote this dissertation as a part-time overseas student, living and working in Argentina between 2000 and 2004, so I owe a debt of gratitude to many people. Professor A.J. Woodman, my supervisor, and Professor D.S. Levene have tirelessly supported me all these years. From them I have learned to think and to work in a completely different way with regard to Tacitus, to the Classics and, fundamentally, to the academic practice. They both helped and advised me in every possible way by reading my drafts, by patiently answering all my questions and doubts, and by providing information and bibliography which was unavailable for me. As a consequence, I am absolutely grateful because oftheir generosity, rigour, and kindness. In different ways, many other people have helped me to overcome the many difficulties I had during this time. The following scholars generously sent me copies of their articles: E. Keitel, H. Heinen, J. Butrica, J. Rives and the editors of Rivista Maia. Also the librarians of the Facolta di Lettere, Universita degli Studi di Trento and Adrian Mendez, the librarian of Biblioteca de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahia Blanca, helped me in my search of material. Moreover, Professors Ruben Florio, Marta Garelli and Maria del Carmen Cabrera, from Departamento de Humanidades, UNS, constantly stimulated me to continue this project up to its end; Giuseppe Sansoni, and Francisco Nardelli supported me whenever I needed their help and assistance; my English teacher Norma Subiela joined me in this work with her professionalism, her intelligence and, above all, her infinite patience; and, finally, my dearest friend Sandra Rosetti always encouraged me with her unconditional friendship and affection. The debt to my parents, Elisa Ferrari and Victor Miravalles, to Nicolas Testoni and to my son Alvaro is greater than I can say. 4 Introduction Since Tacitus' Histories and Annals deal with the history of the Roman Empire, both are considered crucial for the understanding of the "inner working of Roman 1 political and military power" . Amid this political and military history it is possible, however, to find accounts such as the origins of the remote sanctuary on the island of Paphos, the extraordinary riches of the Pharaohs in Egypt or the methods for the extraction of bitumen in the Dead Sea, i.e. ethnographic and aetiological subjects related to eastern cities, peoples, and cults. This study examines Tacitus' treatment of eastern subjects in a number of sections of the Histories and the Annals. I aim to show that those sections, in spite of involving non-Roman subjects, are essentially related to those central concerns about Roman politics that articulate the main narrative of the Histories and the Annals. The passages have been chosen on the basis of four essential points in common. First, they are concerned with the East. Oriens includes not only the provinces that already belonged to the empire but also the bordering regions and peoples outside the empire: Egypt, Syria, Judaea, Asia and Achaea, and also the Pontus, Cappadocia and Armenia. Oriens as a geographic area is for Tacitus one ofthe basic criteria for arranging the materials in his narrative (Hist. 1.2.1 prosperae in Oriente, adversae in Occidente res); and, accordingly, he alludes to it as "the other side of the world" (Hist. 2.1.1 in diversa parte terrarum), "the provinces separated by the sea" (Ann. 2. 43.1 permissae ... provinciae quae mari dividuntur). Second, the passages chosen involve a traveller (from 1 LEVENE (1997), vii. 5 or to Rome), that is, they are related either to the presence of an emperor or a prince (Titus, Vespasian and Germanicus) in that area, or to the arrival of eastern ambassadors in Rome; these Roman travellers "look at", "listen to", "visit" eastern sites; and the Roman Senators "listen to" the descriptions of temples, myths and histories evoked by the ambassadors of the Eastern cities. Third, the passages under discussion are concerned with ethnographies and aetiologies of Eastern peoples, and with (remote as well as recent) history as well as oracles for the future. And finally, the sections chosen either are digressions by themselves or somehow constitute digressive passages: the narrative focus abandons for a while the main line of events so as to deal with a remote and even mythical past and with distant and exotic lands and cities. These temporary exits from the main subject were absolutely formalised in Latin literature: rhetoricians and consequently historians used to adopt digressions or digressive sections because they believed in the effectiveness of myths, legends and descriptions of exotic or wmsual phenomena (digressio, egressio, excursusi to please and to retain the attention of the readers. I shall attempt to demonstrate that the importance of these sections is related not only to the pleasurable effect they produce but also to the structural function they play in the whole of the historiographical text: on the one hand, they constitute spatial displacements from the main narrative, since they deal with distant lands and foreign peoples; on the other hand, they are temporal deviations because they allude either to the mythical and remote past (aetiologies), or to recent history, or to the future (oracles). 2 Cic. De Orat. 2. 261 ab re digressio; Quint. 4.3.12 Hanc partem rcapl:x{Jacnv vocant Graeci, Latini egressum vel egressionem.