Table Of ContentOUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,16/11/2015,SPi
ROMAN HISTORICAL DRAMA
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Roman Historical Drama
The Octavia in Antiquity and Beyond
PATRICK KRAGELUND
1
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3
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Magistris, discipulis, amicis
amorique meo
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Acknowledgements
InthehistoryofWesterndrama,theyear2015,thatbysheerserendipitysees
thepublicationofthisbook,containsthreesignificantanniversaries:in1515—
halfamillenniumback—Romesawthefinishingofthefirsttragedywrittenin
any vernacular, Gian Giorgio Trissino’s Sofonisba; in 1315—two hundred
years further back—Padua saw the first reading of a classical style tragedy
sinceantiquity,AlbertinoMussato’sneo-LatinEcerinis;andin April65AD—
bar 50 years two millennia back—Romans learnt that the emperor Nero had
forced Seneca, the great statesman, philosopher and tragedian, to commit
suicide.
This book focuses on a script and a genre that—it is here argued—has
numerous and crucial links with these watersheds in theatre history; the
improvedunderstandingoftheselinkswill,Ibelieve,enhanceandtransform
the understanding not just of ancient drama, but also of its post-classical
revival.
In writing a book like the present, one incurs long time debts of gratitude
thatIamhappy toacknowledge. Thanks,first,to myoriginalmentorsatthe
UniversityofCopenhagen,JohnnyChristensenandMinnaSkafteJensen,the
latter eventually also my supervisor (1982) and one of the examiners at my
Habilitation (1999), for their interest and encouragement, in early days as
now;tomyfirsteditorsandmuchmore,MarianneAleniusandIvanBoserup;
and to the first, festive and wildly inspiring, group of students with whom I
read the Octavia—you know who you are! From abroad, A.J. Boyle, Harriet
Flower, John Fitch, Miriam Griffin, Toph Marshall and T.P. Wiseman have
beenscholarswithwhomthisprojecthasbenefittedfromlongandcontinued
dialogue. In Copenhagen Per Methner’s renowned undergraduate courses
would often and highly successfully use the Octavia as a beginner’s text that
‘has it all’, poetry, drama, history, philosophy—and, of course, Nero. At
intervalsbeinginvitedtolectureonsuchcoursesandexperiencekeenunder-
graduateinteresthasbeenarecurringinspiration.Sohaveinvitationstogive
talks at the American Academy in Rome, at the University of Southern
Denmark and at our old debating society, Filologisk-Historisk Samfund, for
thesemanylastyearswithMogensHermanHansenasthegenialchairperson.
AttheUniversityofBergenthelateThomasHäggsidedwithmyfriendsand,
one can proudly add, one time students, Karen Skovgaard-Petersen and Lars
BojeMortenseninpersuadingmetopresentasurveyofthestatusofresearch
on the genre for the Symbolae Osloenses; the survey benefitted from the
encouraging responses of eight international experts. In broadening my
understanding of the genre I have, when publishing, incurred further debts
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viii Acknowledgements
ofgratitudetoeditorsandtosharpandhelpfulanonymousrefereesatClassica
& Mediaevalia, Classical Quarterly, Historia, Meddelelser from Ny Carlsberg
Glyptotek, Museum Tusculanum Press and Symbolae Osloenses. I am grateful
tothepublishersofthesejournalsforpermissiontoreuseandrecastmaterial
firstpublishedbythem.
Scholars need access to data, to publications and to collections: thanks to
myoldemployer,theDanishAcademyinRome,forcontinuedsupport;tothe
Danish Academy in Athens for brief, but crucial stays; to my staff at the
Danish National Art Library for getting hold of even the most impossible
publications; to the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice for assistance in perusing
their sixteenth century Drammatiche; to the Bikuben Foundation for the
financial support which enabled me to stay and work for extended periods
inBerlin,LondonandRome.
In a concluding phase the Carlsberg Foundation generously covered the
cost of the book’s illustrations and with even greater generosity supported a
prolonged stay in Florence that was made possible by a sabbatical of three
months granted me by my employer, the Danish Ministry of Culture. That
stayfinallypushedSisyphus’stoneupovertheridge.
InCopenhagenandattheOUPIamgratefulforfinalassistancefromNeil
Stanford, EmilyBrand,NicholasBromley,HelenHughes, CélineLouasliand
AnnieRoseinimprovingandstreamliningthemanuscriptanditsindexes.
Copenhagen
August2015.
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Contents
ListofIllustrations xii
ListofTables xv
PART I THE TRADITION
1. RecoveringaLostGenre 3
2. RepublicanFlourishingandImperialDecline? 13
3. AGenreanditsUses 24
1. Ritualsandorigins 25
2. Daysofremembrance 32
4. Accius 46
1. Brutus 46
2. Deciusor‘DefeatingtheGauls’ 53
5. RomansFightingRomans 58
1. Partisanstagings 60
2. Pharsalos—seenfromCádiz 62
3. Spain,Caesar,andPompey 66
6. StagesOldandNew 69
1. Stagingandrecitation 71
2. Thefun(andshame)inacting 73
3. Upperclassanxieties 77
4. TragedyontheRomanstage,fromNerotoTrajan 83
5. Theemperor-actor 90
6. Theimperialstage 94
7. ImperialPraetextae 100
1. TheAeneasbyPomponiusSecundus 101
2. Persius’essay 103
3. TacitusandMaternus 103
4. CatotheYounger 105
5. Maternus’Cato 107
6. ThefateofMaternus 109
7. Maternus’Nero:dateandcontext 120
