Early Rome: Classics 37A Lecture Notes - PDF

Classics 37A: Early Rome Prof. Richard Snyder January 10, 2025 Livy and the Historical Legends of Early Rome  Quick Review  Last time we talked about the geography of Italy and its effect on how the peninsula developed:  The Alps  The Apennines...

Classics 37A: Early Rome Prof. Richard Snyder January 10, 2025 Livy and the Historical Legends of Early Rome  Quick Review  Last time we talked about the geography of Italy and its effect on how the peninsula developed:  The Alps  The Apennines  The Po River and valley  The four major rivers below the Po:  Arno  Tiber—River on which Rome develops  Liris  Volturnus  The West coast of Italy provides better conditions for agricultural; most population centers develop on West coast  Quick Review  We also talked about the “pre-historical” periods of Italian development:  Bronze Age: c. 1800-900 BCE Early Bronze Age: c. 1800-1600 BCE Middle Bronze Age: c. 1600-1300 BCE  Apennine culture  Late Bronze Age: c. 1300-900 BCE  Protovillanovan culture Iron Age: c. 900- BCE Villanovan, Latial, and eventually Roman cultures Burial practices: inhumation and cremation  Today  Livy  The practice of ancient historiography  Accuracy and truth  Myths and legends  Rome’s dual foundation legends and their significance to the Romans Aeneas Romulus  Livy (Titus Livius)  59 BCE-17 CE  Born in Patavium (modern Padua), a prosperous city in the Po valley. He is “Transpadane,” or from the area beyond the Po  Wrote Ab urbe condita libri (“Books from the Foundation of the City”)  Of the 142 books of this monumental work, only 35 have survived (1-10 and 21-45), though summaries exist for most that have been lost  Modern scholars believe that Livy wrote the first book of Ab urbe condita between 27 and 25 BCE, or shortly after the effective end of the Roman Republic, in the early days of the reign of the first emperor, Augustus  Livy and Ancient Historiography  Livy doesn’t write about pottery or burial practices when talking about the time preceding the foundation of Rome. He may not know about them and probably doesn’t care about them  The relationship of ancient historical accounts to the “truth” is difficult to discern. Ancient historians don’t typically just “make up” events, but they will add details that seem highly unrealistic to us and often invent speeches for historical figures  All ancient historians (and not just Livy) are less concerned with “accuracy” of historical detail than modern scholars typically are  Instead of trying to piece together the most accurate picture of the past, ancient historians tell stories that are designed to instruct and entertain  These stories often have a moralizing intent and can be openly patriotic. They do not aspire to objectivity or detachment to the degree that many modern historians do.  Livy’ Patriotic Disclaimer  “Events before the city was founded or planned, which have been handed down more as pleasing fictions than as reliable records of historical events, I intend neither to affirm nor to refute. To antiquity we grant we grant the indulgence of making the origins of cities more impressive by commingling the human with the divine, and if any people should be permitted to sanctify its inception and reckon the gods as its founders, surely the glory of the Roman people in war is such that, when it boasts of Mars in particular as its parent and the parent of its founder, the nations of the world would as easily acquiesce in this claim as they do in our rule” (3).  Livy’s Moral Intent  “Yet I attach no great importance to how these and similar traditions will be criticized or valued. My wish is that each reader will pay close attention to the following: how men lived, what their moral principles were, under what leaders and by what measures at home and abroad our empire was won and extended; then let him follow in his own mind how, as discipline broke down bit by bit, morality at first foundered; how it next subsided in ever greater collapse and then began to topple headlong in ruin—until the advent of our own age, in which we can endure neither our vices nor the remedies needed to cure them” (3-4)  Myths and Legends  In presenting the foundation of Rome, Livy relies on stories that were well-known in antiquity, but that are impossible for us to verify  Modern scholars refer to these stories as “myths” or “legends”  Myths refer to ancient stories primarily about the gods  Legends refer to ancient stories primarily about mortals, typically heroes who accomplish great deeds  Together, “myths and legends” form the basis of accounts about a culture’s prehistorical eras  Myths and Legends  Both myths and legends are seen as “pre- historical.” There may be some truth to them, but we can’t determine what aspects are true, or to what degree they’re accurate—or they may be entirely fabricated  Even if impossible to verify and likely not “true,” myths and legends provide valuable insights into the culture that creates and sustains them. These are the stories that a group of people tell about themselves, and they are central to a group’s sense of identity and history  Myths and Legends  An example of the importance of myths and legends in antiquity would be the Trojan War, made famous by Homer’s Iliad. Modern archaeology indicates that a city in Turkey identified with ancient Troy was destroyed in the 12th c. BCE, or roughly the time in which Homer’s Iliad is believed to have been set  Even the “historical” date of the war and its actual location are matters of speculation and ongoing scholarly debate  We certainly can’t say if a man named Patroclus decided to put on the armor of a hero named Achilles and was ultimately killed by “Hector” on the battlefield. Homer’s account may have some basis in fact, but we’ll never know for sure  Nevertheless, the Trojan War and the events in it depicted by Homer were central to the Greeks’ understanding of themselves as a people with a distinct history and identity  Livy’s Legends  How is the Trojan War relevant to Livy’s account of the foundation of Rome? In Homer’s Iliad, Aeneas is a warrior allied with the Trojans  What are the other two historical legends that Livy presents in relation to the foundation of Rome? Romulus and Remus Evander, Hercules, and Cacus  Rome’s Foundation Story  There is a tension among all of these stories of figures populating Italy before the foundation of Rome. How do these legends cohere into a single story of Rome’s foundation?  Many scholars believe that Romulus and Remus represent an indigenous or native Italian account of the foundation of Rome  The story of Aeneas is typically seen as “hellenocentric,” or one that is derived from Greek legends and literature (Greeks=the Hellenes) and perhaps imported by Greeks themselves. The Greeks were the first group in the ancient Mediterranean to offer a “universal” history, accounting for the development of non-Greek peoples, often in ways that linked them to the Greeks  Livy and other writers offer a synthesis of these two accounts (Aeneas and Romulus). While some scholars have assumed that the story of Romulus must have preceded that of Aeneas in Italy, there is archaeological evidence that the Etruscans and other peoples of Italy were aware of Aeneas and thought highly of him as early as the 6 th c. BCE Aeneas as Founding Figure  In a world of ancient warriors depicted in the Iliad, Aeneas is not a terribly inspiring figure. We see him lose or nearly lose two fights in Homer’s poem:  Fighting Diomedes in book 5, his hip is crushed by a stone. “That would have been the end of Aeneas” (trans. Lombardo 93), but his mother, Aphrodite (Roman Venus), intervenes and whisks him off the battlefield  Fighting Achilles in book 20, he’s unable to pierce the Greek hero’s shield with his spear, “and Peleus’ son [Achilles] / Would have killed Aeneas in close combat” (trans. Lombardo 395). Instead, the god Poseidon intervenes and saves him Aeneas as Founding Figure Aeneas does have qualities that make him attractive to the Romans, however:  Aeneas is the son of a very prominent goddess, Venus (Greek Aphrodite). He comes from divine stock and is a well-known hero, even if he can be beaten by Greeks such as Diomedes and Achilles  For a group of people that comes to prominence after the Greeks, Aeneas offers a connection back to Greek myth and legend, a divine lineage, and, moreover, opposition to the Greeks Aeneas as Founding Figure In the Iliad, Aeneas is “destined” to survive. There’s a strong element of futurity associated with him in the Iliad. Here’s what Poseidon says before saving him in book 20: Zeus will be angry if Achilles kills him, For it is destined that Aeneas escape And the line of Dardanus not be destroyed And disappear without seed—Dardanus, Whom Zeus loved more than any of the sons Born from his union with mortal women. The son of Cronus [Zeus] has come to hate Priam’s line, And now Aeneas will rule the Trojans with might, And the sons born to his son in the future (Homer, Iliad, trans. Lombardo 396) Aeneas as Founding Figure  Along with these elements of Aeneas’ background and they ways in which they make Aeneas an appealing progenitor for the Romans, we’ll also want to keep in mind that Aeneas is not born in Italy, let alone the site that will become Rome  Instead, he is a refugee  Aeneas and his band of Trojan exiles must enter Italy as outsiders. They form alliances with some groups (the Aborigines) and fight with others (the Rutuli and the Etruscans) Aeneas as Founding Figure  Aeneas marries Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, king of the indigenous Aborigines, and founds the city Lavinium. They have a son, Ascanius. (In Virgil’s account, Ascanius is the child of Aeneas and his Trojan wife, Creusa.) Aeneas eventually vanquishes the groups that oppose him  From very early legends, the Romans’ ancestors are hybridic, a group formed by the union of the Trojans and indigenous Italians  These very early legends also show the Romans’ ancestors to be settlers or colonizers, taking control of foreign territory and establishing new cities there  In this well-known and influential sculpture by Bernini, Aeneas is depicted fleeing Troy with his father and son. This depiction is likely based on a famous passage from book 2 of Virgil’s Aeneid, in which the poet describes Aeneas’ harrowing flight while the Greeks sack Troy. In part because of the prominence of Virgil’s work in the medieval and early Modern periods, Aeneas can be seen an archetypal refugee in the European social imaginary. Note that in the sculpture (as in Virgil’s poem) the male lineage survives, but no female figure (wife, mother, or grandmother) accompanies them. Such a depiction is “Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius,” consonant with the strongly Bernini, c. 1618-19 patriarchal values that  The Latins as Hybridic “In the face of the fear generated by the prospect of such a war, Aeneas wished to win the loyalty of the Aborigines by letting them enjoy the same rights as the Trojans and, what is more, by uniting the two peoples under a common name. So it was that he called them both Latins, thereby making the Aborigines henceforth as dedicated and loyal to Aeneas as were the Trojans” (Livy 1.2, p. 6)  The Antithesis of Autochthony  The Roman presentation of a foundation myth that is both exilic and hybridic stands in stark contrast to well- known Greek foundation myths, which are heavily invested in promoting the idea of autochthony, or “birth from the soil.”  With the figure of Aeneas, the Romans make no pretense of being the “original” Italians or Romans  Livy may be “modernizing” the story by presenting it in a way that resonates with later Roman practices of granting rights to (some of) those they’ve conquered and incorporating them into the Roman army, but other versions of the story also depict the Trojans combining with some indigenous groups and fighting others  Greek Autochthony vs. Roman Hybridity  The Athenians, the best-known of the Greeks, believed that they were descended from Erichthonius (whose name basically means “very earthy”): “Hephaestus attempted to rape Athena, but succeeded only in spilling his seed on her thigh; she wiped it off with a piece of wool … and dropped it on the ground, whereupon the Earth conceived of Ericthonius” (Oxford Classical Dictionary, 555)  Cadmus was believed to have founded Thebes, another prominent Greek city. He populated the city by sowing the ground with the teeth of a dragon that he slayed. From these teeth, men sprung out of the ground and became the original Thebans  In contrast, the Romans, as we have seen, do not promulgate legends in which they were “born from the earth.” Instead, they see themselves as exilic and hybridic Detail of Greek pottery showing the birth of Erichthonius: Athena receives the baby Erichthonius from the hands of the earth mother Gaia. Source: Attic red-figure stamnos, 470–460 BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen (Inv. 2413)  Romulus as Founding Figure  Aeneas is the primary figure in one of Rome’s foundational legends, but other legends are also very important  What is the story of the twins Romulus and Remus? Let’s recap. Who is the father of the twins’ mother?  Numitor—the rightful king of the mythical city Alba Longa who has been driven off the throne by his evil brother, Amulius  Who is the mother of Romulus and Remus?  Rhea Silvia—the daughter of Numitor who is forced to become a Vestal Virgin by Amulius (and thus not produce any male offspring who could compete with Amulius for power in Alba Longa)  Romulus as Founding Figure  But what happens to Rhea Silvia  She becomes pregnant  Who is the father? It’s unclear; she says it’s Mars, the god of war  What does Amulius decide to do?  He orders that the twins she gives birth to be exposed on the Tiber  Who saves them?  A she-wolf, and then a shepherd and his wife, Faustulus and Larentia The Capitoline Wolf with Romulus and Remus. While the twins in this sculpture have long been thought to be modern additions, the wolf portion was believed to be from ancient Rome until recently, when dating procedures revealed that it’s from the 11th or 12th c. CE. Nevertheless, Livy and other writers, such as Cicero, make clear references to a statue in Rome of a wolf feeding Romulus and Remus as infants. Livy’s Coin from Constantinople in 330 CE showing “Roma” on one side and the She-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus on the other. Depictions of the She-wolf and the twins appear on Roman coins as early as 269 BCE. This depiction of a wild animal nurturing the founders of Rome is a recurrent and powerful aspect of the Romans’ conception of themselves—they are “chosen,” in some sense, and they are fearsome (not domesticated?), like their “foster oto of a poster in the Trastevere district of Rome, 2019. Adaptations of nographic image of the she-wolf still resonate with modern Romans.  Romulus as Founding Figure  If Aeneas’ tale derives from Greek legend and Homer’s account of the Trojan War, the story of Romulus and Remus clearly derives from archetypal elements of folktales (ancient tales about people and animals) that are used in many ancient myths and legends  Do any elements of the story of Romulus and Remus’ birth and rescue remind you of other ancient stories you’ve read or heard? Can this story be related to that of Perseus, Moses, Oedipus, or Jesus? How so?  Folk Motifs in the Story of Romulus and Remus  A child is conceived by a “virgin” mother, and often the father is a god (Perseus, Jesus)  A child is ordered to be murdered by an evil king who fears the child will overthrow him or threaten his authority (Perseus, Oedipus, Jesus, and others)  A child is exposed but saved by a shepherd, gardener, or fisherman (Oedipus, Moses, and others)  A child is saved and sometimes suckled by an animal. (The Trojan prince Paris is saved by a bear, the Persian Cyrus by a dog, and Babylonian Semiramis by doves)  A child’s noble background is often evident in his or her early deeds, and eventually his or her true identity is revealed Source: Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome  Romulus as Founding Figure  Aeneas founds Lavinium, his son Ascanius founds Alba Longa, and Romulus and Remus decide to found a city on spot where they had been exposed and raised. This is Rome.  Fratricide: Romulus kills Remus in anger. “The more common story is that in mockery of his brother’s claim Remus jumped over the half-built walls, whereupon Romulus struck him down, crying ‘So be it for any other who leaps over my walls!’” (Livy 1.6, p. 11)  “Fraternal” conflict will return to haunt the Roman Republic during the bloody civil wars of its final century  Romulus as Founding Figure  Romulus expands and fortifies his city, Livy says, “more in the expectation of large population than to defend inhabitants” (1.8, p. 13). How does he populate his city?  By granting asylum to anyone who seeks it  The Early Population of Rome “In order that the enlarged city might not be empty and weak, he resorted to the time-honoured fiction of city founders that the lowly and ignoble folk they attract are children ‘sprung from the earth.’ He therefore selected a site for asylum, which enclosed the area on the left between the two groves as one descends the Capitol. A motley mob from the neighbouring peoples flocked to the spot, with no distinctions made as to whether they were free or slave, and all eager for a new start in life. These men were the beginning of the real strength of the city” Livy 1.8, p. 13  Humble Beginnings  For Livy and the Romans, the idea of autochthony is a “time-honoured fiction”:  Aeneas and the Trojans, ancestors of the Romans, are refugees who have lost a war  Romulus is raised by a she-wolf and a shepherd  Romulus populates Rome with outcasts, a “motley mob” of people who need a “fresh start”