Intro to Roman Literature Flashcards

1
Q

Phases of Roman Literature

A

1) Initial Period (Middle Republic)
2) Golden Age (Late Republic and Early Empire 100 BC-14 AD)
3) Silver Age (Post Augustan)
‘Second Sophistic’ 2nd C AD
4) Later Latin Literature (180-476 AD)

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2
Q

Genres

A

Eg. Epic, history, comedy, philosophy, tragedy, lyric and oratory
+ satire (new genre conceived by Romans)

  • Explicit rules about content and presentation, if you don’t follow it you’ll be ridiculed by your peers
  • Standard themes: love poems = lyrics, gods and hero’s = tragedy/history
  • Establish credibility and trustworthiness to be able to write in a particular genre
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3
Q

fides

A

Writers must have Trustworthiness!

  • Sometimes done by life experiences (there in the war your recounting?)
    • Appealing to a god (gods know all-enlightenment)
    • Ovid calls upon a divine source to explain to him why the cult is set up as it is
    • When Romans first start writing they wrote laws, etc. there were libraries and storage areas of information people could turn to
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4
Q

Elite members training

A

Rhetoric: art of persuasion, manipulating stats to prove their points

Persona: a mask (might not be what they believe)

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5
Q

Who wrote Roman Literature?

A

-Elite, expensive to get good Roman education
-Small group could write and read
-Sample of the education who of adults have enough free time to write – leisure time otium (young men are farmers, apprentices, military, etc. = work time known as negotium)
OR
-People who were taken under the wing of a wealthy person - amicitia - patron, client relationship: bias

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6
Q

Who read Roman Literature?

A

All written in Latin
Education not attainable for all
-We do know literature was read publicly

  • We see graffiti/military records on walls and know there was some degree of literacy
  • Basic understanding
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7
Q

Roman Drama

A
  • Adapted from other peoples according to Roman needs
  • First performances were from Etruscan origin, introduced to meet specific religious need
  • Literature that survived and got written down are Greek:

Drama in Latin under Greek influence
-Manuscript in Latin

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8
Q

Development of Roman Drama

A

280 BC Tarentum (Greek City) gets into a war with Romans
-Romans win and Tarentum becomes part of the territory
-When Tarentum is captured, its people are enslaved
240 BC Greek freedman from Tarentum introduces Greek style drama in Latin to the Roman populace

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9
Q

3 Themes of Greek Drama

A
  1. Greek Tragedy: mythological context, serious, ending in tragedy
  2. Greek Old Comedy (5th C BC Athens- free state at this time): Political themes ex. Lysistrata, Birds
  3. Greek New Comedy (under Hellenistic Kings): Domestic themes
    * No longer appropriate for people to be picking fun at the kings so they switch to domestic

-Romans adapt New Comedy from Greeks because it’s safe, not making fun of the elites who have control

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10
Q

Common Themes in New Comedy (Rome)

A
  • > Temporary inversion of societal norms
  • dim witted father/patron
  • cunning slave outwitting a dim master
  • > Overcoming hardships
  • long lost children
  • young man pining over inappropriate girl
  • > Reversal of circumstance (peripeteia)
  • reveal: door knocking, running slave – plot twist
  • > Final reconciliation -reestablishment of Concordia in family
  • Usually everyone is seen going off to a party at the end
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11
Q

fabulae palliatae

A

“plays in a Greek cloak”

-Roman dramas were presented in Latin, but a way to separate plays from society they used Greek names, cities, areas, etc but their gods, values, etc.

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12
Q

Characters in New Comedy (Rome)

A
Plautus (3rd C)
Terence (2nd C)
STOCK:
-Young man in trouble
-Paterfamilias
-Cunning slave
SUPPORTING:
-Boastful soldier
-Friend
-Mistresses
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