Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, September 2006
Abstract
Capri, which will explore the interrelationship between culture and empire, between Tiberius’ intellectual passions (including astrology, gastronomy, medicine, mythology, and literature) and his role as princeps. These five papers do not so much develop an argument as explore significant themes which will be examined and deployed in the book in different contexts. Tiberius was intensely interested in the deeds and character of the hero Odysseus, to the extent that sometimes he seems almost to have been channeling him. “Tales of Brave Ulysses” considers the evidence for this obsession and suggests something of the fresh insight into the emperor’s character which it evokes.
After the Fall of Troy came the great wanderings, the Greek heroes trying to return to their homes, the Trojans to find a new home. Several of them made their way to Italy and settled there, mainly on or near the eastern, Adriatic coast; some of the Trojans also won through to Sicily. “The west coast of Italy on the other hand, so far as the Achaean heroes are concerned, is almost the exclusive preserve of Odysseus, who, unlike his contemporaries, does not in normal tradition settle and die on Italian soil, but returns home.” Once past the straits of Scylla and Charybdis, he made landfall and left many memories in Southern Campania, around the Bay of Naples; in Southern Latium, around Tarracina and Formiae; and in the neighborhood of Rome, which he of course founded. The Tyrrhenian coast of Italy was reserved for the greatest of heroes: Heracles had passed everywhere on foot, and Aeneas would sail by soon after, stopping in many of the same places. And long, long afterwards the emperor Tiberius would likewise follow, literally and figuratively, in the footsteps of Odysseus. Indeed, the intimate association of the learned emperor with the Greek hero strikes me as one of a richness and complexity unrivalled in the history of such mythological relationships in the ancient world.
Tiberiana 2: Tales of Brave Ulysses
Champlin, Edward (Princeton University)
Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, September 2006
Abstract
Capri, which will explore the interrelationship between culture and empire, between Tiberius’ intellectual passions (including astrology, gastronomy, medicine, mythology, and literature) and his role as princeps. These five papers do not so much develop an argument as explore significant themes which will be examined and deployed in the book in different contexts. Tiberius was intensely interested in the deeds and character of the hero Odysseus, to the extent that sometimes he seems almost to have been channeling him. “Tales of Brave Ulysses” considers the evidence for this obsession and suggests something of the fresh insight into the emperor’s character which it evokes.
After the Fall of Troy came the great wanderings, the Greek heroes trying to return to their homes, the Trojans to find a new home. Several of them made their way to Italy and settled there, mainly on or near the eastern, Adriatic coast; some of the Trojans also won through to Sicily. “The west coast of Italy on the other hand, so far as the Achaean heroes are concerned, is almost the exclusive preserve of Odysseus, who, unlike his contemporaries, does not in normal tradition settle and die on Italian soil, but returns home.” Once past the straits of Scylla and Charybdis, he made landfall and left many memories in Southern Campania, around the Bay of Naples; in Southern Latium, around Tarracina and Formiae; and in the neighborhood of Rome, which he of course founded. The Tyrrhenian coast of Italy was reserved for the greatest of heroes: Heracles had passed everywhere on foot, and Aeneas would sail by soon after, stopping in many of the same places. And long, long afterwards the emperor Tiberius would likewise follow, literally and figuratively, in the footsteps of Odysseus. Indeed, the intimate association of the learned emperor with the Greek hero strikes me as one of a richness and complexity unrivalled in the history of such mythological relationships in the ancient world.
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