Dottorato in Scienze dell'antichità

Conference 'Spoudógelos. Forme del ridere nel mondo antico' to be held on 11th and 12th May 2023. The talk focusses on the traditional portrayal by the ancient literary sources of the way Claudius tackled three cases of opposition to his rule in the first half of his principate: only by demystifying the ridicule are we able to realise the actual, very political motives that Claudius himself had for condemning Appius Silanus (42), Valerius Asiaticus (47), and Gaius Silius and Messalina (48).

Son to an allegedly poisoned father and an exiled mother, brother to two hostes populi Romani, Caligula, at his accession after the death of Tiberius in March AD 37, found himself in a tottering situation. However, the historiographical accounts underline the rejoicing of all Roman social strata at the rise to power of Germanicus’ son after the abuses suffered by his family, as everyone expected him to emulate his father’s greatness. Caligula was aware that he needed to celebrate his heroic Julian legacy to support his position, and so he did in the first years of his reign: epigraphical, numismatic, and generally material evidence completes the unsatisfactory historiographical accounts, which omit almost all mention of the princeps’ celebration of Germanicus’ memory. In AD 39, however, when Caligula expressed his own political agenda, tearing through the Augustan ‘republican’ pretences, and later discovered the great conspiracy involving his favourite (Lepidus), one of his most illustrious generals (Gaetulicus), and most crucially his two surviving sisters, he realised that he could no longer rely exclusively on his father’s memory to uphold his position as princeps. For this reason he started to look for other forms of self-promotion, such as military glory, dynastic plans, alleged pretensions of godhood, and anti-senatorial acts of government. This saw ultimately a decline, though not a complete disappearance, of Germanicus’ celebration, as Caligula’s father only became one secondary item of his son’s political agenda.
Keywords: Caligula, Germanicus, Memory, Celebration, Self-promotion

Ascended to power after the violent end of his predecessor, Claudius, as a Claudian without any ties of family nor adoption with the imperial Julian gens, was confronted by several problems, foremost among them the need to face the aftermath of his nephew Caligula’s assassination by both repudiating the act per se and its perpetrators and minimising its consequences through a general amnesty and the decision to simply but efficaciously skirt the issue of officially condemning and disavowing Caligula’s policy. Once that was accomplished, the new princeps felt the compelling need to promote his own image as the legitimate successor of the imperial family, and in order to achieve such a goal Claudius had to resort to using any relative he could find. Germanicus was the most obvious choice for his brother to use for self-promotion, but the hero had been only too compromised by Caligula’s use of him for his own ends: Claudius then felt the necessity to reinvent his brother’s role as a part, however important, of his own trope of legitimising relatives and ancestors. The role of Germanicus and his family was even more highlighted and stressed at the time of Claudius’ marriage to Agrippina the Younger, his niece and daughter of the self-same Germanicus, and was crucial to promote the early career of her youthful son and later adoptive son of Claudius, Nero.
Keywords: Claudius, Germanicus, memory, legitimacy, self-promotion

Tesi magistrale - Filologia e storia dell'antichità - frontespizio

This work aims to provide an edition of some Pindar’s fragments (frr. 51a-d, 52g and 52k M.) related to the mythical prophet Tenerus and the Boeotian sanctuaries of Apollo Hismenius (Thebes) and Apollo Ptoios (Acraephia). The edition is accompanied by an Italian translation and a detailed commentary. Herwig Maehler’s (1989, post Snell) and Ian Rutherford’s (2001) editions are, of course, essential reference points, yet these texts would still benefit from some philological and exegetical improvements. A brief introduction to the aforementioned sanctuaries and on their relationship with each other is provided; by way of conclusion, it is discussed how these fragments can be read in the Boeotian historical context and how Pindar depicts himself as a poet in these texts.

https://etd.adm.unipi.it/theses/available/etd-03092022-092928/

[Short athletes and heroes: Melissus and Heracles in Pindar’s Isthmian 4]

This article aims to analyse how Melissus of Thebes is represented in Pindar’s Isthmian 4. The emphasis on Melissus’ short stature and the comparison with Heracles, who is unusually μορφὰν βραχύς in this ode, can be better explained if the mythical narrative and Pindar’s politeness strategies are properly understood: Heracles appears «short in stature» in front of his opponents, just as Melissus does, and the poet considers not only the reactions of the winner but also those of the human and divine audience.

Questo articolo si propone di esaminare la presentazione di Melisso di Tebe nell’Istmica 4 di Pindaro. L’enfasi sulla bassa statura di Melisso e il paragone con Eracle, nell’ode eccezionalmente μορφὰν βραχύς, possono essere spiegati con una miglior comprensione della narrazione mitica e delle politeness strategies pindariche: Eracle, come Melisso, risulta «breve di statura» davanti agli avversari e il poeta non tiene conto solamente delle reazioni del vincitore, ma anche di quelle del pubblico umano e divino.

If you are interested in reading this article, please feel free to get in touch!