Roman Luxuria
A Literary and Cultural History
Seiten
2023
Oxford University Press (Verlag)
978-0-19-284640-2 (ISBN)
Oxford University Press (Verlag)
978-0-19-284640-2 (ISBN)
This book examines the etymological and semantic origins of luxuria in key Latin texts. It discusses the influence of Greek culture on the Roman concept and examines a wide array of classical authors and genres to trace how luxuria becomes one of the Seven Capital Sins in late antiquity, representing the vice of lust.
In classical Latin, luxuria means 'desire for luxury'; it is linked with the ideas of excess and deviation from a standard. It is in most cases labelled as a vice which contrasts with the innate frugal nature of the Romans. Latin authors do not see it as endemic but as an import from the East in the aftermath of military conquests--and as a cause of fatal decline.
Following these etymological and semantic origins, Roman Luxuria: A Literary and Cultural History discusses the influence of Greek culture on the Roman concept and the peculiar characteristics of Roman luxuria. It analyses Roman views on luxuria through close readings in historical order from Cato the Elder, who regards luxuria as the opposite of the ideal Roman way of life, to the Christian poet Prudentius, who represents it in an allegorical fight with Sobriety. The book attends both to key authors and to wider literary genres, such as historiography and satire. Particular consideration is given to the rhetorical device of personification, which can be traced from the first appearances of luxuria in Latin literature to those of late antiquity.
Berno devotes detailed attention to Seneca the Younger, whose work is often preoccupied with this passion. Seneca both defends himself from the charge of luxuria and violently attacks it in others, describing it as the archenemy of a philosophical life. Along the centuries, the focus on luxuria shifts from the economic sphere (and the waste of money) to the erotic, to the extent that in the Christian world it becomes one of the Seven Capital Sins representing the vice of lust.
In classical Latin, luxuria means 'desire for luxury'; it is linked with the ideas of excess and deviation from a standard. It is in most cases labelled as a vice which contrasts with the innate frugal nature of the Romans. Latin authors do not see it as endemic but as an import from the East in the aftermath of military conquests--and as a cause of fatal decline.
Following these etymological and semantic origins, Roman Luxuria: A Literary and Cultural History discusses the influence of Greek culture on the Roman concept and the peculiar characteristics of Roman luxuria. It analyses Roman views on luxuria through close readings in historical order from Cato the Elder, who regards luxuria as the opposite of the ideal Roman way of life, to the Christian poet Prudentius, who represents it in an allegorical fight with Sobriety. The book attends both to key authors and to wider literary genres, such as historiography and satire. Particular consideration is given to the rhetorical device of personification, which can be traced from the first appearances of luxuria in Latin literature to those of late antiquity.
Berno devotes detailed attention to Seneca the Younger, whose work is often preoccupied with this passion. Seneca both defends himself from the charge of luxuria and violently attacks it in others, describing it as the archenemy of a philosophical life. Along the centuries, the focus on luxuria shifts from the economic sphere (and the waste of money) to the erotic, to the extent that in the Christian world it becomes one of the Seven Capital Sins representing the vice of lust.
Francesca Romana Berno is Associate Professor of Latin Language and Literature, Sapienza University of Rome. Her interests lie in prose writers, especially Seneca and Cicero, and in the semantics and expression of philosophical concepts, with special reference to ethics. She has also written previously on Senecan tragedies and Ovid. In 2021, she founded the open access international review "Lucius Annaeus Seneca".
Preface and acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1: What does luxuria mean?
2: Luxuria: A short history
3: Seneca's luxuria
4: Seneca against luxuria
5: From luxuria to lust
Bibliography
Index of Passages
General Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 15.06.2023 |
|---|---|
| Verlagsort | Oxford |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 165 x 241 mm |
| Gewicht | 588 g |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Klassiker / Moderne Klassiker |
| Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike | |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-19-284640-X / 019284640X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-19-284640-2 / 9780192846402 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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