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Striving against oblivion : Tombs and cemeteries in the mid-Republic

Davies, Penelope LU (2020) p.449-464
Abstract
Writing as dusk fell on the mid-Republic, Ennius (238–169 BCE) purportedly remarked, ‘Kings throughout their kingship are in quest of statues and sepulchres; they build up a name and strain with all their might and main’. A poet whose verse mediated between the Greek and Roman worlds, he knew the weight of his words, and they usefully highlight the political presence of a tomb. Not that this is under-recognized; Nicholas Purcell and John Patterson, to name just two scholars, describe the space around the city walls, a proastion of sorts, as a zone of elite competition. Still, with notable exceptions, scholarship on Republican funerary art and architecture often tends toward a diachronic treatment of individual monuments or groups of... (More)
Writing as dusk fell on the mid-Republic, Ennius (238–169 BCE) purportedly remarked, ‘Kings throughout their kingship are in quest of statues and sepulchres; they build up a name and strain with all their might and main’. A poet whose verse mediated between the Greek and Roman worlds, he knew the weight of his words, and they usefully highlight the political presence of a tomb. Not that this is under-recognized; Nicholas Purcell and John Patterson, to name just two scholars, describe the space around the city walls, a proastion of sorts, as a zone of elite competition. Still, with notable exceptions, scholarship on Republican funerary art and architecture often tends toward a diachronic treatment of individual monuments or groups of monuments, somewhat separate from other aspects of visual culture. This paper, by contrast, attempts a synchronic view of one of the best-known tombs of the Republic, the Tomb of the Scipios (a salute, of sorts, to its restoration and reopening to the public in 2011). And where the first iteration of the Roma medio repubblicana conference, in 1973, focused on sarcophagi and inscriptions within the tomb, it explores the idea, hypothetically, of inserting the monument – as a whole and within its urban context – into a different continuum, characterizing it as a quasi-transgressive move in the face of a consensus on the sponsorship of publicly funded buildings. Such an exploration might, perhaps, suggest additional layers of significance for cemeteries more broadly in Republican Rome. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
Tomb, Cemetery, Scipio, Rome, Republic, Nobilitas
host publication
Oltre “Roma medio repubblicana." : Il Lazio fra i Galli e la battagli di Zama. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Roma 5-6-7 aprile 2017 - Il Lazio fra i Galli e la battagli di Zama. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Roma 5-6-7 aprile 2017
editor
D'Alessio, Alessandro ; Serlorenzi, Mirella ; Smith, Christopher and Volpe, Rita
pages
15 pages
publisher
Quasar
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
62385911-2af0-4686-83b8-ef9e74a922ea
date added to LUP
2020-05-04 18:08:27
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:18:37
@inproceedings{62385911-2af0-4686-83b8-ef9e74a922ea,
  abstract     = {{Writing as dusk fell on the mid-Republic, Ennius (238–169 BCE) purportedly remarked, ‘Kings throughout their kingship are in quest of statues and sepulchres; they build up a name and strain with all their might and main’. A poet whose verse mediated between the Greek and Roman worlds, he knew the weight of his words, and they usefully highlight the political presence of a tomb. Not that this is under-recognized; Nicholas Purcell and John Patterson, to name just two scholars, describe the space around the city walls, a proastion of sorts, as a zone of elite competition. Still, with notable exceptions, scholarship on Republican funerary art and architecture often tends toward a diachronic treatment of individual monuments or groups of monuments, somewhat separate from other aspects of visual culture. This paper, by contrast, attempts a synchronic view of one of the best-known tombs of the Republic, the Tomb of the Scipios (a salute, of sorts, to its restoration and reopening to the public in 2011). And where the first iteration of the Roma medio repubblicana conference, in 1973, focused on sarcophagi and inscriptions within the tomb, it explores the idea, hypothetically, of inserting the monument – as a whole and within its urban context – into a different continuum, characterizing it as a quasi-transgressive move in the face of a consensus on the sponsorship of publicly funded buildings. Such an exploration might, perhaps, suggest additional layers of significance for cemeteries more broadly in Republican Rome.}},
  author       = {{Davies, Penelope}},
  booktitle    = {{Oltre “Roma medio repubblicana." : Il Lazio fra i Galli e la battagli di Zama. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Roma 5-6-7 aprile 2017}},
  editor       = {{D'Alessio, Alessandro and Serlorenzi, Mirella and Smith, Christopher and Volpe, Rita}},
  keywords     = {{Tomb; Cemetery; Scipio; Rome; Republic; Nobilitas}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{449--464}},
  publisher    = {{Quasar}},
  title        = {{Striving against oblivion : Tombs and cemeteries in the mid-Republic}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}