The Identity of the Satyricon's Author

Primary sources are essential to understanding historical time periods because they give a give a glimpse into what life or an event was like in the time that the source was created. They can help to contextualize what was going on and clarify initial understandings of the time period. This primary source, is a poem written by Martial about Gladiator fights in Ancient Rome in 103 CE. It describes Carpophorus who specialized in fighting against animals, and Priscus and Verus, two equally matches Gladiators. The document helps understand the circumstances in Rome at that time.

The emphasis accorded these contingencies of physiognomy and the resolute refusal of any concession to our - or, so it would appear, antiquity’s - ideas of desirable physical appearance lead one easily to the conclusion that those portraits are uncompromising attempts to transcribe into plastic form the reality of what is seen, innocent of any “idealization” or programmatic bias. These are the portraits of the conservative nobility (and of their middle-class emulators) (luring the death-agonies of the Roman republic. There is no need to doubt that much of their character refers to quite real qualities of their subjects. These are men in later life because the carefully prescribed ladder of public office normally allowed those who followed it to attain only gradually and after many years to such eminence as would allow the signal honor of a public statue. One may well suppose that these hard-bitten and rather unimaginative faces closely reflect the prevailing temperament of the class and society to which they belong, and the twisted and

A Comparison of Plutarch's The Lives of the Ancient Grecians and Romans and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

Ultimately the tone of each account is tremendously different; Suetonius is more concerned with its relation to history while Tacitus is intertwining his own spin on it by blaming the emperor for his unreliability and foolishness.

In Roman society, the aristocrafts we know as patricians. For example, the Roman constitution has three elements.The Senate proposes laws and has the control of the treasury. For instance Although nominally allied with Rome, the League offered only tepid support to the Roman army in its campaign against the Kingdom of Macedonia. Born in Megalopolis in Arcadia, central southern Greece, around 201 B.C., Polybius was the son of Lycoris, a prominent politician of the Achaean League, which united most of the city-states of the Peloponnesian peninsula.However with the exception of the first five books, which have survived intact, Polybius's Histories have come down to us in a fragmentary state.

These are heavy accusations in Rome and would definitely turn many of Cataline’s sympathizers, if there were any, against him. This seems to at least partially root Cicero’s orations in fact, but at the same time Cicero is striving to raise himself both in the eyes of the current Roman people and posterity. Cicero was

The section is from Book Five, which is split into forty-six parts; this critical commentary looks at Part Ten, which is about Claudius’s accession to power. Part of the background behind this text is that Suetonius tries to portray Claudius as a hopeless and fearful man pushed into a position he was not suited for. The way in which Claudius became emperor as well as the Senates quick acceptance of him are vital for the history of the Principate. These acts show the true nature of the Augustan Principate; having these events unfold as they did demonstrates how the Principate robbed Rome of the possibility of being a Republic again (Fagan, 1998). The notion that Claudius might be proclaimed emperor—as he was, by the Praetorians—was very unsettling. Claudius was never considered to be future emperor material—not even by his own mother, ‘Claudius’s mother often called him ‘a monster: a man whom Mother Nature had begun to work upon but then flung aside’’ (Jones, 1981:17). He suffered from physical and quite possibly mental disabilities, including a limp and a speech impediment, which is now today diagnosed as dystonia (Osgood, 2011:9). Although that may be the case, it is rightly argued that Claudius had intellectual ability. Before he became emperor he was often ridiculed by others, he was not considered capable of a public or private career. He was excluded from public office

The authors of this article place a focus on Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and its containing of a lethal plague that profoundly affects this work of drama. In attempting to unravel the factors and descriptions of this plague as depicted in the work, the authors attempt to trace the plague throughout the text as well as search for a possible underlying cause. In comparing the plague within Oedipus Rex to the historical plague of Athens, the authors of this article allow the reader a more in-depth look at the time that Sophocles' writing sought to portray.

"Overview: Oedipus Rex." Drama for Students. Ed. David M. Galens and Lynn M. Spampinato. Vol. 1.

The classical era was a point during which humanity took a great leap forward in terms of understanding and documenting itself. One work of fiction, the Metamorphoses by Apuleius, has given historians a look into life into the second century C.E. by telling stories that were written in that time period. Works of fiction often provide metaphors and allegories greater societal and ideological trends of the civilizations they occupy, and that is especially true of this text. Apuleius uses the extraordinary anecdotes of one character’s journey to illustrate the complexities of life as he knows it. In doing so he provides a window into a world long passed without even being aware of it. This paper aims to analyze the roles of politics,

In the Poetics, Aristotle provides an outline of how the artist is to portray or represent the perfect Tragedy. A Tragedy, of course, was nothing more than a drama, in which the characters appeared "better" than in real life (in a comedy, they appeared "worse," according to Aristotle). Aristotle's Poetics makes several references to other dramatic works to illustrate his points, but he most commonly calls upon The Odyssey to support his argument for how a dramatic structure should be designed. However, along with the Odyssey, Aristotle extensively references Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Both poetic works were enormously popular in their time (the former had been passed down orally for generations, and the latter won the top prizes at the dramatic festivals). Therefore, Aristotle is comfortable using both to support his viewpoint concerning Tragedy and the Tragic Hero. This paper will analyze the standards that Aristotle sets out concerning the definition of the Tragic Hero and show how Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a Tragic Hero.

In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, great emphasis is placed on what it means to be a good Roman. Honour, honesty, service, and dignity were among the qualities considered virtuous and which contributed to a sense of Roman duty. Along with the virtues, Shakespeare also seems to examine the nature of philosophical Stoicism. The treatment of constancy and Stoicism has many thematic and moral implications in Julius Caesar. In analysing Brutus’ supposedly noble character, Shakespeare calls into question Stoicism’s place as a guide for human conduct.

The paper serves as a critical analysis of Thomas F. Mathews’ “The Mistake of the Emperor Mystique” chapter in his book The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art. The scope of the analysis extends only to the chapter, the works included in the chapter and some supplemental sources by other art historians. It examines Mathews’ central argument and auxiliary claims, paying attention to his use of sources. Additionally it probes the validity of his assertions, drawing comparisons to other works or historians.

The Satyricon, like many other works written in the time of early Ancient Rome, is a narrative whose author is not known definitively.   However, the best candidate from the time was Titus Petronius (Arbiter).The story, looking especially from the scene “Dinner with Trimalchio,” is a satiric masterwork of the pragmatic and materialistic attitude of the time, soon to be replaced by Christianity. “Dinner with Trimalchio” tells a tale from the perspective of Encolpius, a vagabond student of the master Agamemnon, who is invited along as a pupil of Agamemnon to a banquet. The host of the banquet is Gaius Trimalchio, who was once a slave but now a freedman millionaire, who worked hard to attain his power and wealthy status. Trimalchio is known

The tale of Oedipus and his prophecy has intrigued not only the citizens of Greece in the ancient times, but also people all over the world for several generations. Most notable about the play was its peculiar structure, causing the audience to think analytically about the outcomes of Oedipus’ actions and how it compares with Aristotle’s beliefs. Another way that the people have examined the drama is by looking at the paradoxes (such as the confrontation of Tiresias and Oedipus), symbols (such as the Sphinx), and morals that has affected their perceptions by the end of the play. Nonetheless, the most important aspect is how relevant the story is and how it has influenced modern ideas like that of Freud and other people of today.