Mito e politica nel panegirico di Antemio

Abstract

The paper focuses on the political message that the treatment of myth conveys in Anthemius’ panegyric, and highlights the complex meaning of Sidonius’ literary choices by analyzing some passages from the preface and the mythological section of the poem. Sidonius’ recourse to myth serves to justify the appointment of a Greek at the head of the pars Occidentis. The analogies with Claudian bring out the specificities of this unprecedented situation, and anyone familiar with Claudian’s poems could measure the enormous difference between the past conditions of the western empire and the present one.