Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography
-
Sophia Papaioannou
Abstract
Omens, as a powerful and impressive manifestation of divine favor, are a recurrent theme in Roman historiography, especially in Livy’s account of the Republican Roman past, and accompany the performance of individuals destined to become rulers of the Respublica or already serving as such. The tradition of imperial biography, which developed into a genre of literary prose during the imperial Roman period, redefined the miraculous in the Roman tradition as a trait of the emperor. The present chapter examines three episodes from the Roman historiographical tradition where the miraculous designates leadership and helps interpret historical progression. The selected episodes come from the work of three Roman historiographers of different eras and political/cultural mindsets. The first concerns the emergence of a snake from the inside of the central column in the palace of Tarquinius Superbus as reported in Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita 1.56. The second is recorded on Suetonius’ Life of Galba 1 and relates the remarkable story of an eagle dropping unharmed into the lap of Livia Drusilla, a hen carrying a laurel spring. The third deals with the healing miracle attributed to the emperor Vespasian in Suetonius, Vespasian 7 and Tacitus, Histories 4.81-2. All three episodes suggest that miracles have a macrocosmic significance, as they become models for interpretation of similar situations in the future, and offer metaphoric yet detailed assessments of contemporary events.
Abstract
Omens, as a powerful and impressive manifestation of divine favor, are a recurrent theme in Roman historiography, especially in Livy’s account of the Republican Roman past, and accompany the performance of individuals destined to become rulers of the Respublica or already serving as such. The tradition of imperial biography, which developed into a genre of literary prose during the imperial Roman period, redefined the miraculous in the Roman tradition as a trait of the emperor. The present chapter examines three episodes from the Roman historiographical tradition where the miraculous designates leadership and helps interpret historical progression. The selected episodes come from the work of three Roman historiographers of different eras and political/cultural mindsets. The first concerns the emergence of a snake from the inside of the central column in the palace of Tarquinius Superbus as reported in Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita 1.56. The second is recorded on Suetonius’ Life of Galba 1 and relates the remarkable story of an eagle dropping unharmed into the lap of Livia Drusilla, a hen carrying a laurel spring. The third deals with the healing miracle attributed to the emperor Vespasian in Suetonius, Vespasian 7 and Tacitus, Histories 4.81-2. All three episodes suggest that miracles have a macrocosmic significance, as they become models for interpretation of similar situations in the future, and offer metaphoric yet detailed assessments of contemporary events.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
-
I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
-
II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
-
III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
-
I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
-
II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
-
III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
