‘L’epigramma scoptico greco della prima età imperiale. Parodia e realtà’, in M. Cariou-N. Zito (éd.), Μάρτυρι μύθῳ. Poésie, histoire et société aux époques impériale et tardive. Actes du colloque international, Paris, Sorbonne Université, 8-10 septembre 2022, Alexandria 2024, pp. 17-29, 2024
Dell’epigramma scoptico greco della prima età imperiale sono stati più volte sottolineati
i tratt... more Dell’epigramma scoptico greco della prima età imperiale sono stati più volte sottolineati
i tratti surreali e grotteschi, l’umorismo nero e le tinte fosche. Se in passato li
si è voluti spiegare con le circostanze storiche – per molti Graeculi costretti a vivere
a Roma, alla mercè di ricchi patroni, la crudeltà della parola sarebbe stata l’unica
valvola di sfogo e l’unica fonte di guadagno – si è ora affermata la tendenza a leggere
questi scherzi poetici alla luce di certe forme contemporanee di poesia del nonsense
e a sottolineare soprattutto il carattere freddo, intellettuale del Witz. La produzione
scoptica della prima età imperiale non è, tuttavia, puro gioco cerebrale, ma
è anche riproduzione mimetica di vizi e difetti. La società contemporanea, negli epigrammi, è ritratta con le sue manie, le sue debolezze, i suoi tic espressivi. Quella scoptica è, insomma, una poesia mimetica della realtà, anche se di una realtà rappresentata attraverso il filtro della letteratura e della deformazione satirica. In questo contributo, lo illustrerò con alcuni esempi. Mi concentrerò, in particolare, su tre epigrammi: “Luciano”, AP, 11, 274, Cerealio, AP, 11, 129, e Traiano, AP, 11, 418.
The surreal and grotesque traits, as well as the black humour and gloomy hues of the Greek scoptic epigram of the early imperial age have been emphasised several times. While in the past they were explained by historical circumstances - for many Graeculi forced to live in Rome, at the mercy of wealthy patrons, the cruelty of speech would have been their only outlet and source of income - there is now a tendency to read these poetic jokes in the light of certain contemporary forms of nonsense poetry and to emphasise above all the cold, intellectual character of the Witz. The scoptic production of the early imperial age is not, however, pure
cerebral play, but is also a mimetic reproduction of vices and faults. Contemporary society is portrayed in these epigrams with its foibles, weaknesses and expressive tics. Scoptic poetry is, in short, a mimetic poetry of reality, albeit of a reality represented through the filter of literature and satirical deformation. In this contribution, I will illustrate this with several examples. I will focus, in particular, on three epigrams: ‘Lucian’, AP, 11, 274, Cerealius, AP, 11, 129, and Trajan, AP, 11, 418.
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i tratti surreali e grotteschi, l’umorismo nero e le tinte fosche. Se in passato li
si è voluti spiegare con le circostanze storiche – per molti Graeculi costretti a vivere
a Roma, alla mercè di ricchi patroni, la crudeltà della parola sarebbe stata l’unica
valvola di sfogo e l’unica fonte di guadagno – si è ora affermata la tendenza a leggere
questi scherzi poetici alla luce di certe forme contemporanee di poesia del nonsense
e a sottolineare soprattutto il carattere freddo, intellettuale del Witz. La produzione
scoptica della prima età imperiale non è, tuttavia, puro gioco cerebrale, ma
è anche riproduzione mimetica di vizi e difetti. La società contemporanea, negli epigrammi, è ritratta con le sue manie, le sue debolezze, i suoi tic espressivi. Quella scoptica è, insomma, una poesia mimetica della realtà, anche se di una realtà rappresentata attraverso il filtro della letteratura e della deformazione satirica. In questo contributo, lo illustrerò con alcuni esempi. Mi concentrerò, in particolare, su tre epigrammi: “Luciano”, AP, 11, 274, Cerealio, AP, 11, 129, e Traiano, AP, 11, 418.
The surreal and grotesque traits, as well as the black humour and gloomy hues of the Greek scoptic epigram of the early imperial age have been emphasised several times. While in the past they were explained by historical circumstances - for many Graeculi forced to live in Rome, at the mercy of wealthy patrons, the cruelty of speech would have been their only outlet and source of income - there is now a tendency to read these poetic jokes in the light of certain contemporary forms of nonsense poetry and to emphasise above all the cold, intellectual character of the Witz. The scoptic production of the early imperial age is not, however, pure
cerebral play, but is also a mimetic reproduction of vices and faults. Contemporary society is portrayed in these epigrams with its foibles, weaknesses and expressive tics. Scoptic poetry is, in short, a mimetic poetry of reality, albeit of a reality represented through the filter of literature and satirical deformation. In this contribution, I will illustrate this with several examples. I will focus, in particular, on three epigrams: ‘Lucian’, AP, 11, 274, Cerealius, AP, 11, 129, and Trajan, AP, 11, 418.
sort of technical term to indicate the state of mind of a woman when she is removed from her family unit for (broadly speaking) nuptial purposes. The valorization of this textual detail allows us to fully appreciate the complexity of Briseis, in whose figure funerary and nuptial symbolism is inextricably linked. This is confirmed by the figurative tradition, where a similar ambiguity can be detected. In particular, I propose to recognize, in some of the visual transpositions of the abductio, the use of the funerary iconography of the farewell in order to represent the Homeric ἀέκουσα.
The analysis will also represent an occasion to focus on a particularly problematic textual passage, from which, in the past, it was believed it was possible to derive technical information to establish the rules for discus throw at the first modern Olympic games. The passage will provide an occasion to highlight how the nature itself of Philostratus’ work, that draws on the visual culture of his time and ‘ekphrastically’ elicits, through ἐνάργεια, vividness, the visual imagination of his audience, favoured a tendence to interpret Philostratus’ γραφαί based on images rather than on the text itself.
and Notus, centred on the myth of Europa’s abduction by Zeus disguised as a bull, in order to clarify its relationship to both previous literary treatments of the subject and the visual arts. It is noted that Lucian not only shares several narrative details with Moschus’ Europa – the most complete extant account of the Europa myth – but also adopts the same literary strategy. Both authors narrate the story through a series of pictorial vignettes, drawing upon the visual arts, so that the story is presented as a series of ekphrastic tableaux, although neither Moschus nor Lucian present them as actual descriptions of works of art. However, Moschus’ descriptions are long and detailed, while Lucian’s are shorter and impressionistic. It is argued that this difference is mostly due to an aesthetic choice. Lucian combines enargeia (‘vividness’) with allusiveness, fully exploiting the potential of his audience’s visual memory and leaving them free to visualise the rhetor’s verbal depiction as they prefer. The readers/listeners are thus afforded the pleasure of integrating the author’s words with their own knowledge. The readers are actively involved in shaping their own mental images, drawing upon their personal literary knowledge, visual memory, and expertise in the visual arts.