Tarquinius Superbus Research Articles

Waiter, there’s a fly in my coffee!

Waiter, there’s a fly in my coffee!

PORSENNA, HORATIUS CYCLOPS, AND CLOELIA (VIRGIL, AENEID 8.649–51)

The fifth scene represented on the Shield of Aeneas describes Porsenna's siege of Rome and the resistance of the Romans, with the two classic exempla of Horatius Cocles and Cloelia (Verg. Aen. 8.646–51):nec non Tarquinium eiectum Porsenna iubebataccipere ingentique urbem obsidione premebat;Aeneadae in ferrum pro libertate ruebant.illum indignanti similem similemque minantiaspiceres, pontem auderet quia uellere Cocles 650et fluuium uinclis innaret Cloelia ruptis.According to Roman mainstream tradition, at the beginning of the Republic, Porsenna, an Etruscan king of Clusium, tried to reinstate the exiled Tarquinius Superbus by besieging Rome, but the heroism of Romans such as Horatius Cocles, C. Mucius Scaevola and Cloelia impressed him so much that he decided to give up the siege and make peace with his enemies. He then sent his army against the Latins and was finally defeated at the battle of Aricia by the joint forces of the Latin League and their allies from Cumae. However, there circulated also less flattering versions of the story: Tacitus (Hist. 3.72, Porsenna dedita urbe) hints at the fact that the Romans had in fact surrendered to Porsenna, and Pliny refers to a humiliating treaty imposed on them by the Etruscan king (HN 34.139).

The Age of Tarquinius Superbus. Central Italy in the Late 6th Century BC: Proceedings of the conference The Age of Tarquinius Superbus, A Paradigm Shift? Rome, 7–9 November, 2013

The Age of Tarquinius Superbus. Central Italy in the Late 6th Century BC: Proceedings of the conference The Age of Tarquinius Superbus, A Paradigm Shift? Rome, 7–9 November, 2013

THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA IN CASSIUS DIO'SROMAN HISTORY

We are told that when news of Caracalla's death reached Rome a group of senators denounced their former emperor, likening him to all the tyrants of the past who had ruled over them. The senator who recorded these actions, the historian Cassius Dio, does not say which tyrants were listed, but it is likely that such a comprehensive list included the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and his son Sextus. The senators' actions were doubtless more an act of group catharsis than a private show of loyalty to their new emperor, Marcus Opellius Macrinus. Yet what the scene reveals perhaps most clearly is the Romanexemplatradition in practice.

Die Genese der idealen Gesellschaft: Studien zum literarischen Werk von Johann Jakob Bodmer (1698–1783) (review)

Jesko Reiling, Die Genese der idealen Gesellschaft: Stuthen zum literarischen Werk von Johann Jakob Bodmer (1698-1783). Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2010.322 pp. Johann Jakob Bodmer and his literary partner Johann Jakob Breitinger- yoked with their Leipzig antagonist, Gottsched - have been accorded a prominent place in traditional histories of eighteenth-century German literature, even if nowadays one is unsure what their contribution was. This study by Jesko Reiling of Bodmer's post- 1740s Biblical epics and political dramas (that is, works produced after the major critical writings) is part of an ongoing revaluation that seeks to make that contribution more precise. For instance, the recent collection by Anett Lutteken and Barbara Mahlmann-Bauer, Johann Jakob Bodmer und Johann Jakob Breitinger im Netzwerk der europaischen Aufklarung (Gottingen, 2009), has as its focus the connection of the Swiss with the larger eighteenth-century Europewide literary transformation, as the title indicates. It is a good place to start, with thirty-two articles (including a chapter by Reiling on Bodmer's Klopstock, Gottlob David Hartmann). In the present study, Reiling proposes a value-free assessment of Bodmer's epics and dramas, beginning with the Noah epic in the 1740s and concluding with the historically-based political dramas (published 1768-69). Fully the first third of the book, however, consists of poorly organized background, which, absent some prior acquaintance, one may have difficulty navigating. Moreover, the book lacks a chronology, not simply of Bodmer's oeuvre but even of the works under consideration. One can keep straight Julius Casar and Nero, even Marcus Brutus, but Die Tegeaten, Italus, Pelopidas, Tarquinius Superbus, Thrasea Pa tus? The book also has the irritating convention of indicating on first mention of a work an abbreviated reference to it in a footnote. After a while, one loses track of which work is meant when consulting a note. Nevertheless, awaiting more research, this study too is a good start. In his introduction Reiling addresses the uniformly negative canonical judgment of Bodmer's literary works. No less than Friedrich Sengle concluded of the dramas that they are nicht allein durch die Schwache des Poeten Bodmer, sondern gewissermassen grundsatzlich undramatisch, undichterisch . (238). The contemporary reaction was no better. Of Noah, for instance, it was noted that [d]ie erste Welt wird zum Spiegel oder Abbild der zweiten Welt, with clearly recognizable modern events verpflanzt in the antediluvian era (143). Thus, before the Flood, Noah in a dream travels for fifty days around the earth with the angel Raphael, who reveals to him the perversions of mankind, all strikingly modern. Of the political dramas Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg wrote that it was useless to judge diese Schauspiele nach den bekannten Regeln des Dramas. He noted that they were durchwurzt mit Staatsbetrachtungen aus dem Montesquieu und Rousseau (239). Such objections, according to Reiling, miss the core of what Bodmer was attempting: namely, not to be entertaining but, instead, to be instructive. He places Bodmer's literary output within the rise of Empfindsamkeit, following, among others, Gerhard Sauder, according to whom this movement was influenced by English moral sense theory, and Friedrich Vollhardt, who has noted the influence of natural rights discourse (3). Reiling's intention is to provide a gesellschaftstheoretische Lesart (8), drawing on what Heidemarie Kesselmann has called the gesellschaftskritische Tendenz of Bodmer's works (8). Agreeing with Peter Hohendahl and others, Reiling finds that the conceptions of virtue, equality, and morality in sentimental literature were a critique of class-based or absolutist politics, not (as per Sauder) a Fluchtphanomen (9). The first part of this study examines Character, Bodmer's analysis of moral types. …

Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult (review)

Reviewed by: Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult Jerzy Linderski Roger D. Woodard . Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult. Traditions. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006. xiv + 296 pp. Cloth, $50. In all cultures gods claim possessions on Earth. Two divine realms stand out: time and space. A perceptive scholar aptly described the religious feasts, in Rome the feriae and dies festi, as "temporal possession of gods" (Jörg Rüpke, Kalender und Öffentlichkeit: Die Geschichte der Repräsentation und religiösen Qualifikation von Zeit in Rom [Berlin: de Gruyter, 1995], 492). Divine space manifested itself in Rome in two distinct forms: there were places (loca) that were sacred (sacra), places that were holy (sancta), and places that were both sacred and holy (on this distinction, see more below). Roman cult of the period illuminated by literature and monuments was a confluence of Indo-European inheritance, Etruscan and Greek elements, and home-grown Italic, Latin, and Roman innovations. The Indian component of the Indo-European tradition has been brought into prominence by the voluminous publications of Georges Dumézil and his theory of the tri-functional Proto-Indo-European society: the three spheres were those of worship and legal writ, war, and work, with the classes of priests/governors, warriors, and producers and with the corresponding patron deities. In India we have Mitra and Varuna, Indra, and the As;vins and the castes of brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, and wayśya. Georges Dumézil demonstrated great ingenuity in applying this Indian scheme to Rome; see especially his summa, Archaic Roman Religion (English trans.: Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970). This theory has captivated many, especially among the linguists and popularizers; Woodard is its ardent supporter. Students of Roman history and religion following the lead of Arnaldo Momigliano (and the indologist Jan Gonda) have been generally cautious; see recently Mary Beard, John North, and Simon Price, Religions of Rome I: A History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 14–16: while granting that "Dumézil's work has prompted much useful discussion about individual festivals or areas of worship in Rome," they do not find any compelling evidence for his overarching scheme and observe that all this "theorizing shows us once more how powerful in accounts of early Roman religion is the mystique of origins and schemata" (cf. in a similar vein, but concerning archaic Rome in general and in particular the views of Kurt Latte, Jerzy Linderski, Roman Questions II [Stuttgart: Steiner, 2007], 31–33, 595–96). Woodard has made his name with studies in Greek and Indo-European linguistics; his previous forays into the realm of Roman religion were the notes to the Penguin translation of Ovid's Fasti (2000) and a piece on "The Disruption [End Page 125] of Time in Myth and Epic" (Arethusa 35 [2002]: 83–98). The current book is to a great extent a measured polemic against skeptics and unbelievers, but Woodard's ultimate goal is more ambitious: his objective is not only to present a clear summary of Dumézil's arguments but also "to jump forward from that Dumézilian platform and to offer a new understanding of Roman and . . . primitive Indo-European religious structures and phenomena," an understanding which "differs appreciably from Dumézil's own interpretations" (ix). The book consists of five chapters. Here is a synopsis: I. "The Minor Capitoline Triad" (1–58). In the Capitoline temple built by Tarquinius Superbus, the reigning triad was that of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Now there were in Rome fifteen priests called flamines, three of whom were Maiores: the priests of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus—Flamen Dialis, Martialis, and Quirinalis. That here we have before us another, earlier triad was already recognized by Georg Wissowa (Religion und Kultus der Römer, 2d ed. [Munich: C.H. Beck, 1912], 154); for Dumézil and Woodard this is the prime exhibit of the original trifunctional scheme of law and religion, war, and production/fecundity. But Woodard discovers still another minor triad. Before Jupiter's temple was built, various deities had inhabited the hill. Two of them, Juventas and Terminus, despite all the religious ceremonies and entreaties, refused to relocate, and...

The Taxonomy of Patience, or When Is "Patientia" Not a Virtue?

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Taxonomy of Patience, or When Is "Patientia" Not a Virtue?Robert A. KasterRobert A. Kaster Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Classical Philology Volume 97, Number 2Apr., 2002 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/449576 Views: 20Total views on this site Citations: 4Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 2002 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Irene McMullin Existential Flourishing, 35 (Dec 2018).https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108617260Mario Feit Democratic impatience: Martin Luther King, Jr. on democratic temporality, Contemporary Political Theory 16, no.33 (Sep 2016): 363–386.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-016-0062-2Shadi Bartsch, Alessandro Schiesaro The Cambridge Companion to Seneca, 1 (Feb 2015).https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139542746Yair Holtzman, Debra R. Comer, Leslie E. Sekerka Taking time for patience in organizations, Journal of Management Development 33, no.11 (Feb 2014): 6–23.https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-11-2013-0132

Advice to Tyrants: The Motif of "Enigmatic Counsel" in Greek and Roman Texts

IN THE WORKS of the English short-story writer Saki, known for his sardonic attitude toward the British aristocracy, we find the following description of a woman working in her garden: Mrs. Riversedge snipped vigorously at the nearest rose bush, incidentally decapitating a Viscountess Folkestone that was just coming into bloom.' This symbolic-though, in this case, accidental-execution of the highest classes, who are represented by flowers, has its literary origin at least as far back as Livy's histories. In the story of Tarquinius Superbus as told by Livy and the historians following in his tradition, Tarquinius' son sends him a messenger to inquire how Gabii might be conquered. Tarquinius answers the messenger by strolling into his garden and striking off the heads of the poppies there. Upon hearing of this figurative action his son correctly interprets it to mean that he should kill the prominent citizens of Gabii.2 Scholarship on the episode has noted the parallel of this story with Herodotus' story of Thrasyboulos and Periander, in which Thrasyboulos instructs Periander on tyranny by cutting down prominent stalks of wheat.3 The change from grain to poppies, however, has not been discussed, nor have the several other interesting variants on this detail.4 Ovid's version ofTarquin's history substitutes lilies for poppies,5 and two rabbinic versions concerning Rabbi Jehuda ha Nasi's advice to the Emperor Antoninus substitute radishes. Although the detail may seem insignificant, this type of symbolic, figurative action, centering around vegetation and carrying a political meaning, forms part of a folklore motif known as enigmatic counsel whose best-known variants are the above-mentioned rabbinic versions.6 While commentaries on the

Hellenistic Monarchy and Roman Political Invective

The origins of the well-known hatred for thenomen regisat Rome are in this way explained by Cicero in theDe Republica, written in the late 50sb.c.Tarquinius Superbus, Rome's last king, so traumatised the Roman people that the termrexstill had a potent effect almost five hundred years after his downfall. Many modern scholars would accept that the Roman hatred of kings was deep-rooted and intense, and it is often called upon to explain Roman behaviour. This approach finds clear expression in the latest edition of theCambridge Ancient History, where one scholar in his discussion of the overthrow of Tarquinius writes: ‘Forever after the Romans hated the very idea of a king’. Yet an examination of Latin writings from the Republican period, rather than confirming this, reveals much that is at odds with this interpretation of the Roman attitude towards kings and the concept of kingship. Surprisingly, even their own kings are generally treated favourably. While there is no doubt that there was hostility to kings in the first centuryb.c., it is necessary to reconsider its origins and nature. I wish to argue that it was neither as long-standing nor as intense as is traditionally assumed. Its origins should be sought not in the distant obscurity of the last years of the regal period, but in Rome's encounters with the hellenistic kings of the East in the second centuryb.c.

Deciphering Fear and Trembling's Secret Message

It has long been recognized that Soren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling is a cryptogram. Encoded within a series of reflections and commentaries on Genesis 22 is a deeper message directed at a reader or readers presumably capable of deciphering the hidden meaning. That this is true is suggested by the book's epigraph: ‘What Tarquinius Superbus said in the garden by means of the poppies, the son understood but the messenger did not.’

The Classical Topography of the Roman Campagna.—III. (The Via Latina).—Section I.

The Via Latina forms the third portion of the description of the Classical Topography of the Roman Campagna, of which two parts have already appeared in these Papers (Via Collatina, Via Praenestina, and Via Labicana, i. 125 sqq.; Via Salaria, Via Nomentana, and Via Tiburtina, iii. 1 sqq.). The general remarks made in the introductions apply, in. the main, to the present portion also: and the preliminary matter may, therefore, be comparatively brief. It is fortunate that Professor Tomassetti has dealt fully with the mediaeval topography of the Via Latina in La Via Latina nel Medio Evo(Rome, 1886, reprinted from the Archivio della Società Romana di Storia Patria). This indispensable work contains also a very large amount of information as to the classical period, and it will be necessary to cite it constantly in these pages.The Via Latina originated (cf. Papers, i. 128) during the gradual establishment of the Latin League in the form in which it appears as. completed about 370 B.C. The dates of the various military operations given by Livy as occurring in Algido must not, naturally, be pressed; we can only say generally that the pass of Algidus was a position of considerable importance in the warfare against the Aequi in 465–389 B.C., and that the road must have gone at least so far—possibly further, inasmuch as Signia is said to have been founded by Tarquinius Superbus, and a fresh colony sent there in 495 B.C. Nor can we fix the date of the transformation of the Via Latina into a permanent military highway.