Classica et Mediaevalia

Disturbing Flowers: The Three-Dimentional Colours of Claud. Rapt. Pros. 2.90-132

Beatrice Bersani — 2022-04-04

Claudian’s colourful images have often been studied for their decorative func- tion and as examples of late-antique fragmentary style. More recent scholarship, instead, has proposed that colouring provides coherence to the text through its symbolic meanings. This article analyses the aesthetic and symbolic significance of colourful imagery by differentiating between the three main dimensions of colour: brightness, saturation and hue. The blossoming meadow of Claud. Rapt. Pros. 2.90-132 is an ideal case study: a focus on all three colour components highlights that the formal choices and the symbolic meanings are not opposite or separate, but parallel in their fragmentary coherence, and each important for the interpretation of the text. Both the visual effects and the metaphoric charge of Claudian’s colourful flowers undermine the idyllic atmosphere of the meadow and foreshadow Proserpina’s abduction.

Pompey's Head and Caesar's Tears: the History of an Anecdote

Georgios Vassiliades — 2022-10-06

In many sources, Caesar is said to have wept and become indignant at the sight of Pompey’s head presented to him as a gift from Ptolemy XIII. Given that Caesar does not mention the episode in De Bello Ciuili, this paper attempts, through a chronological survey of later extant sources, to determine their interdependence by observing the stable and fluid elements in each, and then to outline the history of the shaping of this anecdote. The episode might have been included in early accounts of the events surrounding Pompey’s death, produced by pro-Caesarian historians in the immediate aftermath of Caesar’s death. Declamatio not only picked up and reworked this historical anecdote and led to its reinterpretation in an anti-Caesarian way, but also probably played a major role in its broader diffusion.

Re-Evaluating the Chronology of Caracalla's Reign: When Was Caracalla in Nikomedia?

Mads Ortving Lindholmer — 2022-10-11

It has become increasingly common to assert that Caracalla wintered in Nicomedia in 213/214 rather than 214/215. This is important because it has led scholars to argue that Caracalla’s activities and campaigns in the Balkans are largely invented by ancient historiographers. The present article examines and rejects the evidentiary basis of the new dating and, through an analysis of Caracalla’s itinerary and relevant coinage, provides strong support for the theory that Caracalla wintered in Nicomedia in 214/215. This reconstruction significantly influences the wider chronology of Caracalla’s reign and restores his activities in the Balkans to the history books.

Sparta; Mantinea and Parrhasia; Elis and Lepreon: Politics and Autonomy in 421-418 BC

James Roy — 2022-10-11

Following the end of the Archidamian war Sparta intervened in Parrhasia and at Lepreon. The interventions weakened Mantinea and Elis, two states that caused difficulties for Sparta, but besides Realpolitik there were also questions of law, and the Spartans, though anxious to achieve strategic advantages, were careful to act with proper legal authority. Sparta declared both Parrhasia and Lepreon autonomous, but autonomy did not mean the same status in the two cases. Since knowledge of these incidents comes mainly from Thucydides’ Book 5, the argument depends heavily on interpretation of Thucydides’ text.

Vespasian and Mettius Pompusianus

David Woods — 2022-10-11

Several ancient sources agree that the emperor Vespasian did not punish a certain Mettius Pompusianus when he learned that he had received an imperial horo- scope, but appointed him as consul. It is argued here that Vespasian intended his appointment of Pompusianus as consul as the fulfilment of this horoscope which was vaguer in its original language than the surviving sources suggest. This saved him from having to punish Pompusianus.

Populism and Mass Clientelistic Politics in Classical Athens

Christopher H. Hedetoft — 2022-10-11

The potential dangers and uses of populism are as never before at the forefront of discourse on modern democracy. From political scientists to the media, politicians and of course the public, everyone seems to have an opinion in the heated debate about the role of populism in politics. In most cases, contemporary populists are chastised by pundits and academics for undermining democracy and dividing the nation. Yet perhaps we need a new, albeit historical, perspective. Was populism present in a democratic state outside of our own time frame – and if so, how did it work? Using a number of works on populism as a theoretical framework, most importantly Jan-Werner Müller’s What is populism? (2016), this paper seeks to uncover, analyze and discuss popu- lism, rhetoric, leadership and power relations in the direct democracy of classical Athens (508-323 BCE). Through an in-depth study of Aristophanes’ comedy Knights, Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian War, and various forensic orations, I conclude that populism was very much alive and well in ancient Athens, and likely even embedded in the politico-legal structure of their society. Furthermore, I find that the relationship between elite orators and the masses of the Athenian citizenry was primarily an interde- pendent and mutually reciprocal one.

Eine Marien-Elegie vom Hof Kaiser Maximilians I.: der Text von Heinrich Isaacs Motette "O decus ecclesiae"

Martin Bauer-Zetzmann — 2022-10-11

This paper aims to revise and reconstruct the highly corrupt text of Heinrich Isaac’s Marianic motet O decus ecclesiae by examining the only manuscript source anew. It can be demonstrated that the text is written in elegiac distichs and artfully blends Christian ideas and classicising language. It is therefore highly probable that its author was one of the leading humanist poets at the court of Emperor Maximilian I and that the elegy was commissioned for a representative event.