Papers by Raphael Hunsucker
Una certa idea — een bundel essays voor David Rijser, van zijn vrienden, ter gelegenheid van zijn afscheid van de Universiteit van Amsterdam en zijn vijfenzestigste verjaardag., 2021
Enige bespiegelingen over schoonheid in Rome en de schoonheid van Rome, van Vergilius en de Sixti... more Enige bespiegelingen over schoonheid in Rome en de schoonheid van Rome, van Vergilius en de Sixtijnse Kapel tot fascistische architectuur in EUR en de Netflix-serie Suburra, ter ere van David Rijser.
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Wat is het verhaal dat je als docent op Romereis aan je leerlingen wil vertellen? Wat is het doel... more Wat is het verhaal dat je als docent op Romereis aan je leerlingen wil vertellen? Wat is het doel van de Romereis in de 21e eeuw? In samenwerking met het Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome (KNIR) organiseert Roma Aeterna een nascholingsreis naar de Eeuwige Stad waarin deze vragen centraal staan. Deelnemers gaan in dialoog met inhoudelijke en didactische experts, én met elkaar, op zoek naar een inhoudelijk goed onderbouwd, persoonlijk verhaal om leerlingen (opnieuw) mee te inspireren en motiveren voor hun vak. Daarnaast behandelt deze reis uitgebreid, en op basis van de laatste
wetenschappelijke inzichten, enkele van de meest bezochte en tegelijk complexe plekken in Rome: het Forum Romanum, de San Clemente en de Vaticaanse Musea.
Bij iedere docent, ongeacht het vak dat hij of zij dagelijks geeft, klinken de eigen achtergrond, passie en belangstelling door in de verhalen op de Romereis. Het zijn bij uitstek deze achtergronden, passies en interesses die leerlingen kunnen enthousiasmeren en hun interesse kunnen aanwakkeren voor kunst, literatuur, wetenschap, filosofie en geschiedenis. Alle vakken, en zeker de geesteswetenschappen, komen op Romereis bijeen. Op deze nascholingsreis is er veel aandacht voor die positieve kruisbestuiving.
Door onderlinge verbanden centraal te stellen kan de docent op Romereis niet alleen individuele
meesterwerken tot leven wekken, maar leerlingen ook in staat stellen om de (kunst)geschiedenis van de Europese cultuur in haar geheel beter te begrijpen. Hoe bekijk je Rome in de (soms weerbarstige) praktijk van de Romereis met een onderzoekende, interdisciplinaire blik, om zo de spannende verbanden tussen verschillende benaderingen bloot te leggen? Hoe zorg je dat een bezoek aan het Forum Romanum of
het Vaticaan geen vermoeiende opsomming van feiten is, maar een inspirerend verhaal wordt dat begrip kweekt voor de Europese geschiedenis?
Al die vragen komen ruimschoots aan bod tijdens deze intensieve en spannende nascholingsreis.
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Roma Aeterna, Jan 12, 2018
Otto III (980-1002), de derde keizer van het Heilige Roomse Rijk in de Saksische dynastie van de ... more Otto III (980-1002), de derde keizer van het Heilige Roomse Rijk in de Saksische dynastie van de Ottonen, staat bekend om zijn ongewoon sterke band met de stad Rome. De jonge vorst liet midden in de antieke stad, op één van Romes zeven heuvels, een paleis bouwen en zetelde als enige middeleeuwse keizer min of meer permanent in de caput mundi. Of hij daarmee het antieke Romeinse Rijk wilde doen herleven, en op welke plek hij precies zijn paleis heeft gebouwd zijn in de laatste eeuw onderwerp geweest van felle discussie. De these dat zijn paleis op de Palatijn zou liggen is recentelijk ontkracht, waarmee de heropleving van de antieke keizerpaleizen onder Otto III een mythe van de geschiedschrijving is geworden: zijn paleis lag op de Aventijn.
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Lampas 51.4, 2018
This theme issue sets out the concept of 'anchoring innovation', and explores its use in case stu... more This theme issue sets out the concept of 'anchoring innovation', and explores its use in case studies from literature (Lardinois), linguistics (Nijk), medical innovation (Tieleman), philological practice (Wessels), politics (Hunsucker), reception studies (Lamers and Reitz-Joosse), and pedagogical practice in the classroom (Dijkstra and Adema).
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Lampas, Dec 20, 2018
Anchoring can be a powerful strategy to legitimize innovation and changes, but its success also d... more Anchoring can be a powerful strategy to legitimize innovation and changes, but its success also depends on the choice of the anchor. If a given anchor proves to be successful in one context, it may be purposefully employed again and again in highly different circumstances. The foundation of Rome is a case in point: major innovations were repeatedly related to the city’s most distant beginnings, and founders of Rome came to act as mirrors through which the Romans recognized the novelties of the present in a primordial past.
A concrete application of this idea is the phenomenon of ‘ktistic renewal’: redefining the concept of foundation, influential agents of innovation could be seen as ‘second founders’ of the city. This epithet was famously applied to the emperor Augustus, comparing him to Romulus. The way his innovative regime was anchored in turn functioned as an anchor for later innovations. In Late Antiquity, the apostles Peter and Paul were also seen as new founders of a reborn, Christian Rome. In both periods, foundational figures thus played a role as anchors to legitimate far-reaching religious and political changes. This article examines the repeated recourse to new and second founders in the Augustan Age and Late Antiquity to highlight the success of one anchoring device in two very distinct contexts. Obviously, such double or incremental anchoring may call for innovation in the use of the anchor itself – and that is exactly what this contribution aims to study.
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Imagining Emperors in the Later Roman Empire, Jul 26, 2018
It seems no surprise that Maxentius, during whose reign Rome regained at least some of its former... more It seems no surprise that Maxentius, during whose reign Rome regained at least some of its former centrality, also gave rise to the promotion of the memory of the Rome’s distant foundation. But what exactly was the role of the emperor, the senate and/or other agents in the renewed promotion of the memory of Rome’s distant foundation? And to what (imperial) models, recent or remote, did he or the ones responsible turn for inspiration and legitimacy? In what past, in other words, were the (at the same time traditional and innovative) recourses to the city’s earliest history anchored?
As many other aspects of the reign and political ideology of the early 4th century emperor, also the conspicuous re-entry in the public sphere of Romulus and Remus and other symbols of the foundation of Rome during his reign has to be studied in the context of his Tetrarchic predecessors and rival-emperors. Based on the variety of (epigraphical, numismatic and literary) sources that constitute our limited historical record for Maxentius' reign, this paper addresses these questions from the perspective of the long-term development of the process of myth- and-memory-making concerning the foundation of Rome. It argues that an important precedent for Maxentius was his father, the Tetrarchic emperor Maximian, and that his Romulean agenda was also adopted by none other than Constantine.
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Monuments & Memory: Christian Cult Buildings and Constructions of the Past. Essays in Honour of Sible de Blaauw, 2016
Contribution to the volume of essays in honour of Sible de Blaauw: M. Verhoeven, L. Bosman and H.... more Contribution to the volume of essays in honour of Sible de Blaauw: M. Verhoeven, L. Bosman and H. Van Asperen (eds.), Monuments & Memory: Christian Cult Buildings and Constructions of the Past. Essays in Honour of Sible de Blaauw (Turnhout: Brepols 2016). The article offers a new interpretation of a largely overlooked 7th century Latin inscription and discusses its modern reception. The inscription (an epitaph for a Constantinopolitan nobleman named Theodorus) contains a striking example of Byzantine self-representation in the Eternal City, but also sheds new light on the political history of Byzantine Rome during the reign of Heraclius.
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Verschenen in Wau (Blad van de studie Klassieke talen, Universiteit van Amsterdam) ter gelegenhei... more Verschenen in Wau (Blad van de studie Klassieke talen, Universiteit van Amsterdam) ter gelegenheid van het afscheid van dr. Charles Hupperts.
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Zoals zoveel dingen in de Eeuwige Stad is ook het toerisme (of althans de aanwezigheid van buiten... more Zoals zoveel dingen in de Eeuwige Stad is ook het toerisme (of althans de aanwezigheid van buitenlandse bezoekers, toeristen of niet) iets van alle tijden. Maar in tegenstelling tot latere perioden hebben we uit de oudheid relatief weinig egodocumenten van Romereizigers over die de ervaring op dezelfde manier beschrijven als we die kennen uit latere tijden. Als we dus iets over het antieke ‘toerisme’ willen zeggen, moeten we het vooral met (vaak latere of fictieve) literaire evocaties doen. Één daarvan staat in dit artikel centraal. Het zal blijken dat antieke literaire impressies van de reis naar Rome toch van alles met de moderne ervaring gemeen hebben. Meer in het bijzonder bewijst de hier behandelde passage dat ook in de oudheid al menig bezoeker werd geconfronteerd met de overweldigende historische gelaagdheid van de stad.
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Het fenomeen van de aantrekkingskracht van Rome, de eindeloze stroom reizigers naar de Caput Mund... more Het fenomeen van de aantrekkingskracht van Rome, de eindeloze stroom reizigers naar de Caput Mundi, wordt in dit nummer van Roma Aeterna aan een nader onderzoek onderworpen. De verschillende bijdragen bieden een diachroon perspectief op de vragen die voor reizigers uit alle tijden opgaan: wat dacht (en denkt) men in de stad te zullen vinden? En hoe bevalt Rome, als men eenmaal is aangekomen? Hoe verhoudt het ideaal, het Rome uit de verhalen van antieke schrijvers en uit vooraf bestudeerde reisgidsen, zich tot de (soms weerbarstige) realiteit?
De verschillende bijdragen in dit nummer verkennen deze vragen in woord en beeld.
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Hermeneus, Mar 21, 2014
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Correct version of article published in Ex Tempore, Jan 2014
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De beeldvorming van het Romeinse verleden in de augusteïsche tijd staat niet los van het heden wa... more De beeldvorming van het Romeinse verleden in de augusteïsche tijd staat niet los van het heden waarin de augusteïsche auteurs leefden en werkten; Augustus speelde ook een sleutelrol in de fysieke transformatie van het Romeinse stadlandschap, en beide ontwikkelingen versterkten elkaar. Augustus liet niet alleen een marmeren of, zoals de dichters zeiden, ‘gouden Rome’ vol monumentale bouwwerken achter, maar was ook degene onder wiens bewind voor het eerst de Vrbs Aeterna (‘Eeuwige Stad’) werd bezongen. Dat doet vermoeden dat de fysieke gedaanteverwisseling die Rome onderging alles te maken had met een metamorfose van het beeld van de stad in de literaire werken van Vergilius, Horatius en andere Romeinse dichters.
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In 2014 is het tweeduizend jaar geleden dat Augustus overleed, de man die de geschiedenis is inge... more In 2014 is het tweeduizend jaar geleden dat Augustus overleed, de man die de geschiedenis is ingegaan als de eerste Romeinse keizer. Dit themanummer van Roma Aeterna staat stil bij zijn indrukwekkende nalatenschap in de Eeuwige Stad. De nadruk ligt daarbij niet alleen op Augustus’ eigen tijd, maar ook op de tweeduizend jaar waarin zijn daden op wisselende wijze werden herinnerd en zijn historische erfenis voelbaar is gebleven.
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Roma Aeterna is een nieuw diachroon en multidisciplinair opgezet tijdschrift over Rome dat de mee... more Roma Aeterna is een nieuw diachroon en multidisciplinair opgezet tijdschrift over Rome dat de meest recente wetenschappelijke inzichten over de Eeuwige Stad en haar rijke geschiedenis voor een breed publiek vrij toegankelijk beoogt te maken. Speciale aandacht gaat uit naar de gelaagdheid van historische processen en de verbanden tussen de verschillende tijdvakken die in Rome zo duidelijk hun sporen hebben nagelaten. Roma Aeterna wordt uitgegeven in samenwerking met de Ambassadeurs van het Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome (KNIR).
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Book Reviews by Raphael Hunsucker
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Drafts by Raphael Hunsucker
We aim to show how the concept of cultural memory (central to several ongoing research projects w... more We aim to show how the concept of cultural memory (central to several ongoing research projects within Dutch classical studies) can offer a valuable contribution to the method of anchoring innovation. In antiquity, cultural memory does not only serve as a passive recipient of past events: rather, it influences actions of individuals and groups in the present, by anchoring present and prospective events and transformations in a coherent whole of past and present. The 'soggy' and flexible nature of cultural memory, we argue, makes it particularly fertile ground for anchoring. Our hypothesis is that the tenacious aspect of Roman cultural memory can account for the longevity and success of an anchoring device, even if that device is applied to different ends or in conflicting contexts. The omnipresence of such tenacious anchors in Roman memory forces every potential heir to the Roman legacy to engage with them. Romulus is one of these tenacious anchors. His role in the foundation of Rome figures prominently in two crucial periods of transformation in Roman history. Drawing on theories of cultural memory, invented traditions, antiquarianism and intentional history, we hope to show briefly how Rome in general, and recourses to her distant origins in particular, continued to function as important anchors for political innovations over the course of six centuries.
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Conference Presentations by Raphael Hunsucker
Poster presented at the British Epigraphy Society Spring Meeting 2018 in Rome, about the epitaph ... more Poster presented at the British Epigraphy Society Spring Meeting 2018 in Rome, about the epitaph of a Greek man named, Theodorus, styling himself as 'Byzantine' (Vizanteus), and his grandson. Apart from establishing the correct date and offering a new transcription and readings, an article written by the presenters of this poster situates the inscription in the context op political uproar in Early 7th century Italy, the persistence of classical models in Byzantine Rome, and the interesting modes of remembrance and reuse of the Late Antique and Byzantine past and material heritage in Early Modern and Modern Rome.
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In the preface to his monumental history, Livy famously states that the beginnings of Rome are mo... more In the preface to his monumental history, Livy famously states that the beginnings of Rome are more suitable material for poetical treatment than for historical analysis. That turns out to be all but a typical Augustan recusatio, used by contemporary poets to avoid full-scale treatment of daring topics or to gracefully decline a commission. Rather than omitting Rome's earliest history as unsuitable for inclusion, Livy offered an intricately crafted analysis of the Romans' res gestae in his first five books, ab condita urbe Roma ad captam eandem (VI.1.1). Set between foundation and destruction, the scene of Rome's progression towards the light of history is encapsulated by two crucial figures: Romulus and M. Furius Camillus.
The way Livy treats and portrays the latter is full of poetical reminiscences, linking Camillus to both Romulus, Rome's original founder, and Augustus, Rome's contemporary re-founder. While the connection between Romulus, Camillus and Augustus has long been noted, this talk sheds new light on the poetical motives and designs employed by Livy to make that connection into a cornerstone of his overarching literary architecture. It will be argued that, although not a poet, the historiographer masterfully employed the techniques of allusion and intertext - so well-known from contemporary poetry - to make a significant contribution to the 'poetics of re-foundation' in the Early Augustan Age.
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Papers by Raphael Hunsucker
wetenschappelijke inzichten, enkele van de meest bezochte en tegelijk complexe plekken in Rome: het Forum Romanum, de San Clemente en de Vaticaanse Musea.
Bij iedere docent, ongeacht het vak dat hij of zij dagelijks geeft, klinken de eigen achtergrond, passie en belangstelling door in de verhalen op de Romereis. Het zijn bij uitstek deze achtergronden, passies en interesses die leerlingen kunnen enthousiasmeren en hun interesse kunnen aanwakkeren voor kunst, literatuur, wetenschap, filosofie en geschiedenis. Alle vakken, en zeker de geesteswetenschappen, komen op Romereis bijeen. Op deze nascholingsreis is er veel aandacht voor die positieve kruisbestuiving.
Door onderlinge verbanden centraal te stellen kan de docent op Romereis niet alleen individuele
meesterwerken tot leven wekken, maar leerlingen ook in staat stellen om de (kunst)geschiedenis van de Europese cultuur in haar geheel beter te begrijpen. Hoe bekijk je Rome in de (soms weerbarstige) praktijk van de Romereis met een onderzoekende, interdisciplinaire blik, om zo de spannende verbanden tussen verschillende benaderingen bloot te leggen? Hoe zorg je dat een bezoek aan het Forum Romanum of
het Vaticaan geen vermoeiende opsomming van feiten is, maar een inspirerend verhaal wordt dat begrip kweekt voor de Europese geschiedenis?
Al die vragen komen ruimschoots aan bod tijdens deze intensieve en spannende nascholingsreis.
A concrete application of this idea is the phenomenon of ‘ktistic renewal’: redefining the concept of foundation, influential agents of innovation could be seen as ‘second founders’ of the city. This epithet was famously applied to the emperor Augustus, comparing him to Romulus. The way his innovative regime was anchored in turn functioned as an anchor for later innovations. In Late Antiquity, the apostles Peter and Paul were also seen as new founders of a reborn, Christian Rome. In both periods, foundational figures thus played a role as anchors to legitimate far-reaching religious and political changes. This article examines the repeated recourse to new and second founders in the Augustan Age and Late Antiquity to highlight the success of one anchoring device in two very distinct contexts. Obviously, such double or incremental anchoring may call for innovation in the use of the anchor itself – and that is exactly what this contribution aims to study.
As many other aspects of the reign and political ideology of the early 4th century emperor, also the conspicuous re-entry in the public sphere of Romulus and Remus and other symbols of the foundation of Rome during his reign has to be studied in the context of his Tetrarchic predecessors and rival-emperors. Based on the variety of (epigraphical, numismatic and literary) sources that constitute our limited historical record for Maxentius' reign, this paper addresses these questions from the perspective of the long-term development of the process of myth- and-memory-making concerning the foundation of Rome. It argues that an important precedent for Maxentius was his father, the Tetrarchic emperor Maximian, and that his Romulean agenda was also adopted by none other than Constantine.
De verschillende bijdragen in dit nummer verkennen deze vragen in woord en beeld.
Book Reviews by Raphael Hunsucker
Drafts by Raphael Hunsucker
Conference Presentations by Raphael Hunsucker
The way Livy treats and portrays the latter is full of poetical reminiscences, linking Camillus to both Romulus, Rome's original founder, and Augustus, Rome's contemporary re-founder. While the connection between Romulus, Camillus and Augustus has long been noted, this talk sheds new light on the poetical motives and designs employed by Livy to make that connection into a cornerstone of his overarching literary architecture. It will be argued that, although not a poet, the historiographer masterfully employed the techniques of allusion and intertext - so well-known from contemporary poetry - to make a significant contribution to the 'poetics of re-foundation' in the Early Augustan Age.
wetenschappelijke inzichten, enkele van de meest bezochte en tegelijk complexe plekken in Rome: het Forum Romanum, de San Clemente en de Vaticaanse Musea.
Bij iedere docent, ongeacht het vak dat hij of zij dagelijks geeft, klinken de eigen achtergrond, passie en belangstelling door in de verhalen op de Romereis. Het zijn bij uitstek deze achtergronden, passies en interesses die leerlingen kunnen enthousiasmeren en hun interesse kunnen aanwakkeren voor kunst, literatuur, wetenschap, filosofie en geschiedenis. Alle vakken, en zeker de geesteswetenschappen, komen op Romereis bijeen. Op deze nascholingsreis is er veel aandacht voor die positieve kruisbestuiving.
Door onderlinge verbanden centraal te stellen kan de docent op Romereis niet alleen individuele
meesterwerken tot leven wekken, maar leerlingen ook in staat stellen om de (kunst)geschiedenis van de Europese cultuur in haar geheel beter te begrijpen. Hoe bekijk je Rome in de (soms weerbarstige) praktijk van de Romereis met een onderzoekende, interdisciplinaire blik, om zo de spannende verbanden tussen verschillende benaderingen bloot te leggen? Hoe zorg je dat een bezoek aan het Forum Romanum of
het Vaticaan geen vermoeiende opsomming van feiten is, maar een inspirerend verhaal wordt dat begrip kweekt voor de Europese geschiedenis?
Al die vragen komen ruimschoots aan bod tijdens deze intensieve en spannende nascholingsreis.
A concrete application of this idea is the phenomenon of ‘ktistic renewal’: redefining the concept of foundation, influential agents of innovation could be seen as ‘second founders’ of the city. This epithet was famously applied to the emperor Augustus, comparing him to Romulus. The way his innovative regime was anchored in turn functioned as an anchor for later innovations. In Late Antiquity, the apostles Peter and Paul were also seen as new founders of a reborn, Christian Rome. In both periods, foundational figures thus played a role as anchors to legitimate far-reaching religious and political changes. This article examines the repeated recourse to new and second founders in the Augustan Age and Late Antiquity to highlight the success of one anchoring device in two very distinct contexts. Obviously, such double or incremental anchoring may call for innovation in the use of the anchor itself – and that is exactly what this contribution aims to study.
As many other aspects of the reign and political ideology of the early 4th century emperor, also the conspicuous re-entry in the public sphere of Romulus and Remus and other symbols of the foundation of Rome during his reign has to be studied in the context of his Tetrarchic predecessors and rival-emperors. Based on the variety of (epigraphical, numismatic and literary) sources that constitute our limited historical record for Maxentius' reign, this paper addresses these questions from the perspective of the long-term development of the process of myth- and-memory-making concerning the foundation of Rome. It argues that an important precedent for Maxentius was his father, the Tetrarchic emperor Maximian, and that his Romulean agenda was also adopted by none other than Constantine.
De verschillende bijdragen in dit nummer verkennen deze vragen in woord en beeld.
The way Livy treats and portrays the latter is full of poetical reminiscences, linking Camillus to both Romulus, Rome's original founder, and Augustus, Rome's contemporary re-founder. While the connection between Romulus, Camillus and Augustus has long been noted, this talk sheds new light on the poetical motives and designs employed by Livy to make that connection into a cornerstone of his overarching literary architecture. It will be argued that, although not a poet, the historiographer masterfully employed the techniques of allusion and intertext - so well-known from contemporary poetry - to make a significant contribution to the 'poetics of re-foundation' in the Early Augustan Age.
For lack of an existing term, either ancient or modern, that describes this phenomenon, I propose to label it ‘ktistic renewal’. ‘Renewal’ may concern either the role of the founder as subject, or the entity as object. Either there is a pre-existing ktistic paradigm that is being renewed, a new person taking over the role of founder, or there is something new that is being interpreted in a pre-existing ktistic paradigm (or, of course, both). In the former case, something old is presented as something new; in the latter, something new as something old. Ktistic renewal may thus be seen as a particular instance of ancient discursive strategies to deal with the tension between the new and the old, a topic that can be studied productively as an example of ‘anchoring innovation’.
This talk will consider various refoundations of Rome in a diachronic perspective. No city in the Ancient world rivalled Rome’s combined claim of power and longevity. As the city on the Tiber boasted the longest history of dominance in the Ancient world, laying claim to the foundation of Rome was a powerful and popular political instrument, for emperors as well as popes.
In Augustan Rome, a particularly strong node of aetiological thinking revolved around the memory of the city's distant foundation. The ktistic deeds of a whole array of founders, from Evander to Romulus, were seen as the origins of political, social, and religious traditions and institutions. Even more so, Rome's cityscape was inscribed with their cultural memory. The Palatine Hill, in particular, became invested with focal points of ktistic commemoration. While these (pseudo-)mythical places are largely known to us from ancient poetry and prose, and thus function within the literary universe of 'metaphysical topography' (Edwards 1996), they have attracted scholarly attention mostly from non-literary scholars. Archaeologists, predominantly, have ventured to locate and identify these locales in modern excavations, often with a considerable degree of (popular) success. The hut of Romulus, the ficus Ruminalis, the niger lapis, and the lupercal are, however, culturally more complex phenomena: the literary tradition, for example, mentions two distinct huts of Romulus, on different hills, and two fig trees of Rumina. These are not just casual variances. In terms of aetiology, it is even imperative to look at these spatially articulated monuments in connection with the contemporary political topography of Rome, as the authors describing these sites lived in a city that was intensively reshaped by Augustus, who also lived on the Palatine. This paper will discuss some of the most salient claims and cases of Augustan 'aetiological monuments' involving both the foundation of the city and the contemporary topography of power.
Romulus is one of these tenacious anchors. His role in the foundation of Rome figures prominently in two crucial periods of transformation in Roman history. In the Augustan age, Romulus was recongifured to anchor the ‘Roman revolution’ that transformed an aristocratic republic into a monarchic empire. Late antiquity saw fundamental shifts in the religious and political focus of the empire, shifts which were again mediated through the figure of Romulus. When Rome developed from pagan to Christian capital, Peter and Paul were reconfigured as the new Romulus and Remus. In Constantinople, the new Rome at the Bosporus, different authors debated the moral legitimacy of the old capital of the empire through a close scrutiny of the questionable character of Romulus, who had founded Rome on the blood of his brother Remus.
The tenacity of Romulus as an anchor is not impeded by the fundamental ambiguity inherent in his character. On the contrary, the multi-layeredness of Romulus proved highly potential for the anchoring of Roman identity throughout the vicissitudes of Roman history. The persistence of such a tenacious anchor may call for innovation in the use of the anchor itself – and that is exactly what this paper aims to study.
As many other aspects of the reign and political ideology of the early 4th century emperor, also the conspicuous re-entry in the public sphere of Romulus and Remus and other symbols of the foundation of Rome during his reign has to be studied in the context of his Tetrarchic predecessors and rival-emperors. Furthermore, the lack or presence, respectively, of references to the founders of the Eternal City under the Tetrarchs, on the one hand, and Maxentius, on the other, seems to stand in a close relation to their respective (dis)regard for the traditional political role of the imperial capital, Rome.
Although the Tetrarchs disregarded Rome in some ways, they were equated with the founders of the city nonetheless, e.g. in imperial panegyric. Did the new Maxentian attention for the founders of Rome build mainly on Tetrarchic precedent? Or was the aim rather to bypass the Tetrarchs and to link him, by way of his veneration for the city's founders, to the more august single emperors of old? Caesar Augustus, in particular, comes to mind as an example of an emperor who promoted the memory of the founders of the city to an unprecedented extent, on the one hand, and reaffirmed the central position of Rome after a period of political turmoil, on the other. Later emperors followed in his footsteps: Hadrian, Antoninus, even Aurelian, perhaps. Was their example still valid for an early 4th century usurper and his Roman audience? Or were Maxentian politics of remembrance based rather on more recent imperial forerunners (i.e. the Tetrarchs) and the experiences the people of Rome had had with them?
In Maxentius’ case, we may expect a more immediate involvement in these matters by the emperor and/or his court than his predecessors and successors might have had. His central position and embeddedness in the Vrbs sua that was both his base and seat of power and his major Repräsentationsraum make Maxentius an interesting case to study imperial agency. Based on the variety of (epigraphical, numismatic and literary) sources that constitute our limited historical record for Maxentius' reign, this paper will venture to answer these questions from the perspective of the long-term development of the process of myth- and memory-making concerning the foundation of Rome.
to play an interesting role. In the words of Sharon James, ‘it is (…) a truth universally acknowledged that the Aeneid is concerned with the founding of Rome, an event commonly described by the verb condere.’ (James 1995: 623) The word appears conspicuously at both beginning (I.5) and end (XII.950), albeit in strongly contrasting settings. According to Richard Thomas in his discussion of the phrase Augustus Caesar, divi genus, aurea condet / saecula (VI.792-3), precisely the use of condere makes this ‘most certain Augustan utterance
of the Aeneid deeply ambiguous’ (Thomas 2001: 4).
For a truth universally acknowledged, but also challenged, it is remarkable how little has been published on the practicalities of the Aeneid’s concern with the founding of Rome and this verb ‘so crucial to the poem’, condere. A notable instance of condere to consider if
we wish to gain a thorough understanding of Vergil’s use of the word, are the verb’s metapoetical overtones. As it occurs prominently in many of the most momentous passages, the meaning and importance we assign to it may also prove decisive to the ‘Augustan’ meaning of the Aeneid as a whole. Will Augustus ‘again found ages of gold’, or will he bring the golden era to a close? Also in this case, the poetic style of Vergil might prove foundational to the Augustan political message.
This paper will look at the different uses of condere in the Aeneid, at the use of the verb in earlier and later sources and at the contemporary importance of the concept of Rome’s foundation in Augustan Rome.
- James, S.L., ‘Establishing Rome with the Sword: Condere in the Aeneid’, AJPh 116 (1995) 623-637.
- Thomas, R.F., Virgil and the Augustan reception (Cambridge 2001).
As Cicero points out, Varro seems to have chosen this form (which would continue to be productive after him in Roman and European literature) in order to pass difficult concepts also to less learned Romans. Verses and humor seem to be the features by which the author intended to attract the attention of these readers. He thus quoted and recalled the most recent Latin comic and satiric authorities, i.e. Plautus and Lucilius. Moreover, we may often find in his Satires the echo and the memory of other poets (Greek and Roman) reused, re-actualized and sometimes even “abused” to depict the paradoxes of the Roman present and of its moral crisis. Varro, dealing with all types of meters, proved his talent as a poet and his originality in conceiving a new protreptic type of philosophy. As it seems, he ultimately aimed to give an innovative answer to the crisis of the End of the Republic by exhaustively pointing to the Roman past and its values and thus anticipating the message of the Antiquitates.
Carthago staat vooral bekend als de aartsvijand van Rome. Deze vijandschap krijgt in de Aeneis van Vergilius (het grote Romeinse epos uit de vroege regeerperiode van Augustus) de nodige mythologische diepgang door haar terug te voeren op een vloek van koningin Dido, de stichteres van het Punische Carthago. Uit dit verhaal heeft vooral de tragische afloop van de liefde tussen Dido en Aeneas grote bekendheid gekregen. Deze lezing behandelt een minder bekend maar zeker niet minder belangrijk onderdeel van diezelfde episode: de stichting van Carthago. In Vergilius’ versie van het verhaal raakt Aeneas steeds nauwer betrokken bij de opbouw van de stad door Dido, waardoor zijn goddelijke missie om in Italië zelf een nieuwe stad te stichten naar de achtergrond verdwijnt. Langzaam neemt Carthago de rol van het toekomstige Rome over en wordt ze niet als aartsvijand, maar als evenbeeld van de stad aan de Tiber voorgesteld. Door Aeneas als mede-stichter van Carthago op te voeren verleende Vergilius bovendien een mythisch fundament aan de herstichting van Carthago door Augustus in zijn eigen tijd. Ook in dit opzicht werd het Romeinse handelen gelegitimeerd door een mythisch voorbeeld. Dat Carthago tevens als het evenbeeld van Rome kon fungeren spreekt boekdelen over het blijvende belang van de stad, ook na haar legendarische verwoesting.
Bij iedere docent, ongeacht het vak dat hij of zij dagelijks geeft, klinken de eigen achtergrond, passie en belangstelling door in de verhalen op de Romereis. Het zijn bij uitstek deze achtergronden, passies en interesses die leerlingen kunnen enthousiasmeren en hun interesse kunnen aanwakkeren voor kunst, literatuur, wetenschap, filosofie en geschiedenis. Alle vakken, en zeker de geesteswetenschappen, komen op Romereis bijeen. Op deze nascholingsreis is er veel aandacht voor die positieve kruisbestuiving. Door onderlinge verbanden centraal te stellen kan de docent op Romereis niet alleen individuele meesterwerken tot leven wekken, maar leerlingen ook in staat stellen om de (kunst)geschiedenis van de Europese cultuur in haar geheel beter te begrijpen. Hoe bekijk je Rome in de (soms weerbarstige) praktijk van de Romereis met een onderzoekende, interdisciplinaire blik, om zo de spannende verbanden tussen verschillende benaderingen bloot te leggen? Hoe zorg je dat een bezoek aan het Forum Romanum of het Vaticaan geen vermoeiende opsomming van feiten is, maar een inspirerend verhaal wordt dat begrip kweekt voor de Europese geschiedenis? Al die vragen komen ruimschoots aan bod tijdens deze intensieve en spannende nascholingsreis.