Idalion, Satrachus and the Annales of Volusius: The Reception of Cyprus in the Carmina Catulli
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Boris Hogenmüller
Abstract
The carmina of the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus are famous for various reasons. Especially Catullus’ tendency to criticize contemporary literature or to praise it at the highest level is characteristic for the neoteric theory of poetry. Considering Catullus’ poems in toto it seems to be striking that precisely the little-known Annales of Catullus’ contemporary Volusius, a rather unknown poet of the first century BCE, have aroused Catullus’ wrath with lasting effect. No other explanation can be found that they have become the subject of two poems. Equally striking is the fact that both poems are obviously connected with places on the island of Cyprus to evaluate quality of poetry and in this special case devaluate Volusius’ so called cacata volumina.
Abstract
The carmina of the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus are famous for various reasons. Especially Catullus’ tendency to criticize contemporary literature or to praise it at the highest level is characteristic for the neoteric theory of poetry. Considering Catullus’ poems in toto it seems to be striking that precisely the little-known Annales of Catullus’ contemporary Volusius, a rather unknown poet of the first century BCE, have aroused Catullus’ wrath with lasting effect. No other explanation can be found that they have become the subject of two poems. Equally striking is the fact that both poems are obviously connected with places on the island of Cyprus to evaluate quality of poetry and in this special case devaluate Volusius’ so called cacata volumina.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface and Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
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Part I: Cyprus in Latin Literature
- Cyprus and its Myths on the Roman Stage 13
- Venus on Cyprus: Interlinked Lists of Aphrodite’s Cypriot Sanctuaries in Latin Poetry 33
- Idalion, Satrachus and the Annales of Volusius: The Reception of Cyprus in the Carmina Catulli 51
- Nil desperandum …. cras ingens iterabimus aequor (Hor. Carm. 1.7): The Foundation of Salamis by a Bastard Archer as an Exemplum in Latin Literature 65
- Balance and Excess in Ovid’s Pygmalion Story 87
- Was Cyprus Special? The Case of Two Latin Poets 103
- Infamem nimio calore Cypron: Ancient Epigrams on Flacci in Cyprus 111
- The Digression on Cyprus in Claudian’s Epithalamium de nuptiis Honorii et Mariae 131
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Part II: Cyprus after Antiquity
- Venus and Adonis from Enheduanna to Shakespeare: The Significance of Ovid’s Cypriot Metamorphoses 153
- Pilgrims, Merchants and Lovers: The Island of Cyprus in Boccaccio’s Decameron (via Ovid’s Metamorphoses) 175
- Venus of Paphos in the Latin Poetry of the Quattrocento 201
- Ovid’s ‘Good’ Women: The Cypriot Exemplum Against the Background of the Statue (R)evolution 221
- Osmosis between High Genres: Ovid’s Tragic Formation of Myrrha’s Tale (Met. 10.298–502) and its Reception in Alfieri’s Homonymous Tragedy 249
- Travel, Classical Traditions and Empire: Western Travellers to Cyprus in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 265
- List of Contributors 289
- General Index 293
- Index Locorum 299
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface and Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Cyprus in Latin Literature
- Cyprus and its Myths on the Roman Stage 13
- Venus on Cyprus: Interlinked Lists of Aphrodite’s Cypriot Sanctuaries in Latin Poetry 33
- Idalion, Satrachus and the Annales of Volusius: The Reception of Cyprus in the Carmina Catulli 51
- Nil desperandum …. cras ingens iterabimus aequor (Hor. Carm. 1.7): The Foundation of Salamis by a Bastard Archer as an Exemplum in Latin Literature 65
- Balance and Excess in Ovid’s Pygmalion Story 87
- Was Cyprus Special? The Case of Two Latin Poets 103
- Infamem nimio calore Cypron: Ancient Epigrams on Flacci in Cyprus 111
- The Digression on Cyprus in Claudian’s Epithalamium de nuptiis Honorii et Mariae 131
-
Part II: Cyprus after Antiquity
- Venus and Adonis from Enheduanna to Shakespeare: The Significance of Ovid’s Cypriot Metamorphoses 153
- Pilgrims, Merchants and Lovers: The Island of Cyprus in Boccaccio’s Decameron (via Ovid’s Metamorphoses) 175
- Venus of Paphos in the Latin Poetry of the Quattrocento 201
- Ovid’s ‘Good’ Women: The Cypriot Exemplum Against the Background of the Statue (R)evolution 221
- Osmosis between High Genres: Ovid’s Tragic Formation of Myrrha’s Tale (Met. 10.298–502) and its Reception in Alfieri’s Homonymous Tragedy 249
- Travel, Classical Traditions and Empire: Western Travellers to Cyprus in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 265
- List of Contributors 289
- General Index 293
- Index Locorum 299
