Compitum

Franco Montanari, Theodore Papanghelis, Bernhard Zimmermann et Evanthia Sistakou (éd.), In the Mists of Time: Negotiating the Past in Ancient Literature. Studies in Honor of Antonios Rengak, Berlin-Boston, 2024.

Éditeur : De Gruyter
281 pages
ISBN : 9783111500638
109,95 €

The idea of the past, far from suggesting a nostalgic longing or an antiquarian curiosity for ages and cultures irrevocably lost, is essential to the human perception of the world. The volume at hand, entitled In the Mists of Time: Negotiating the Past in Ancient Literature, explores pastness as expressed through myth and early history and as reflected in sophisticated concepts and epistemological questions in Ancient Greek and Latin literature. The eighteen contributions illustrate how the ancients addressed the past through poetry, history and philosophy and lend insight into the metaliterary, self-reflexive way of dealing with past texts through scholarship.

Amy Koenig, The Fractured Voice. Silence and Power in Imperial Roman Literature, Madison, 2024.

Éditeur : University of Wisconsin Press
228 pages
ISBN : 978-0-29-9-34530-3
£ 99.00

Imperial Rome privileged the elite male citizen as one of sound mind and body, superior in all ways to women, noncitizens, and nonhumans. One of the markers of his superiority was the power of his voice, both literal (in terms of oratory and the legal capacity to represent himself and others) and metaphoric, as in the political power of having a “voice” in the public sphere. Muteness in ancient Roman society has thus long been understood as a deficiency, both physically and socially.

Maximilian Höhl, Literarische Triumphe. Der römische Triumph als konzeptuelle Metapher in der Literatur der späten Republik und der frühen Kaiserzeit, Berlin-Boston, 2024.

Éditeur : De Gruyter
Collection : Millennium-Studien, 103
330 pages
ISBN : 978-3-11-1-08089-5
109,95 € (Open access)

Der Triumphzug bestimmte das Denken und Handeln der Römer in hohem Maße. Dies gilt nicht nur für die Zeit der späten Republik, in der die Triumphzüge hart umkämpft waren, sondern auch für die frühe Kaiserzeit, in der das Ritual immer mehr aus dem Alltag verschwand.

Deborah Beck, The Stories of Similes in Greek and Roman Epic, Cambridge, 2023.

Éditeur : Cambridge University Press
277 pages
ISBN : 978-1-10-8-48179-3
£ 85.00

Just as the story of an epic poem is woven from characters and plot, so too the individual similes within an epic create a unique simile world. Like any other story, it is peopled by individual characters, happenings, and experiences, such as the shepherd and his flocks, a storm at sea, or predators hunting prey. The simile world that complements the epic mythological story is re-imagined afresh in relation to the themes of each epic poem. As Deborah Beck argues in this stimulating book, over time a simile world takes shape across many poems composed over many centuries. This evolving landscape resembles the epic story world of battles, voyages, and heroes that comes into being through relationships among different epic poems. Epic narrative is woven from a warp of the mythological story world and a weft of the simile world. They are partners in creating the fabric of epic poetry.

Source : Cambridge University Press

André Puéjean, Les croyances religieuses en Tarentaise et Valais à l'époque romaine. Contribution à l'histoire religieuse des Alpes occidentales romaines, Nîmes, 2024.

Éditeur : Éditions Nombre 7
245 pages
ISBN : 978-2-38591-959-7
32 €

A l'époque romaine, les Ceutrons de la Tarentaise et les Valaisans du Valais suisse continuèrent à vénérer les dieux gaulois sous leur nom indigène. Ils adorèrent aussi les divinités officielles de Rome, même si celles-ci étaient le plus souvent l'objet d'un culte de la part du gouverneur et son entourage. Mais ce furent surtout les divinités issues du syncrétisme gallo-romain - en dehors de leurs propres dieux — qui eurent leur préférence car ces déités leur rappelaient leurs divinités d'origine, Les religions venues de l'Orient revêtirent dans l'ensemble une plus grande importance en Valais qu'en Tarentaise, avec notamment la présence du culte de Mithra à Martigny.
Les habitants de ces régions alpines témoignèrent d'une grande ferveur, certes souvent intéressée, au culte impérial, manifestant ainsi leur fidélité au Prince et leur attachement à l'Empire. Ils honorèrent enfin leurs morts avec une dévotion toute particulière. Quant aux premières communautés chrétiennes, elles n'apparurent et ne se développèrent qu'à l' Empire tardif en Valais, puis en Tarentaise.

Source : Decitre

Edoardo Galfré, Storia di un esule. L'evoluzione della poesia dell'esilio di Ovidio dai "Tristia" alle "Epistulae ex Ponto", Stuttgart, 2023.

Éditeur : Franz Steiner Verlag
Collection : Palingenesia, 135
242 pages
ISBN : 978-3-515-13371-5
60 €

Quando il poeta latino Publio Ovidio Nasone fu condannato all'esilio dall'imperatore Augusto, la sua vita subì certo un duro colpo, non così tuttavia da interrompere un'attività poetica cominciata fin dalla prima giovinezza. Nella lontana e inospitale Tomi, sulle rive del Mar Nero, l'esule torna alla pratica del genere elegiaco in una versione allo stesso tempo inedita e originaria, riscoprendone cioè un risvolto triste e lamentoso che ben si adatta alla situazione biografica corrente. Inaugurando questa nuova fase di vita e di scrittura, Ovidio si chiede soprattutto quando essa potrà finire. La cesura rappresentata dalla condanna ha segnato un punto di non ritorno che da un lato ha prodotto la poesia dell'esilio ora in corso, dall'altro genera l'attesa di una futura nuova svolta tanto disperatamente agognata quanto ostinatamente presupposta: il momento del richiamo. Il volume offre un'analisi diacronica delle varie collezioni poetiche composte da Ovidio a Tomi e rintraccia nella storia che esse sviluppano la sottile ma ben percepibile tensione fra la volontà di chiusura manifestata dal poeta e il rischio dell'eternità cui il suo canto lacrimevole è intrinsecamente costretto.

Source : Franz Steiner Verlag