Lecture notes - Textos y contextos del mundo clásico - Tema 2. Romes legendary origins PDF

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TCMC. EEII (2016-17) Tema 2. Marco histórico-geográfico de Roma. La presencia romana en Gran Bretaña. 2.1 Periodización de la historia de Roma

2.2 Rome's Legendary Origins. From Aeneas to the Republic (509 b.C.) 2.2.1 Myth, legend, folktale The word myth comes from the Greek word mythos, ("word," "speech," "tale," or "story") and that is essentially what a myth is: a story. A myth may be narrated orally, but usually it is eventually given written form. A myth also may be told by means of no words at all, for example, through painting, sculpture, music, dance, or by a combination of various media, as in the case of drama, opera, movies, etc. Many specialists in the field of mythology, however, attempt to draw distinctions in terminology between myth and other words often used synonymously, such as legend, saga, and folktale. Myth is a comprehensive (but not exclusive) term for stories primarily concerned with the gods and humankind's relations with them (creation of the world, etc.). Saga, or legend, has a perceptible relationship to history; however fanciful and imaginative, it has its roots in historical fact (the Trojan war, Romulus and Remus, etc.) Interwoven with these broad categories are folktales, which are often tales of adventure, sometimes peopled with fantastic beings and enlivened by ingenious strategies on the part of

the hero; their object is primarily, but not necessarily solely, to entertain. Fairytales may be classified as a particular kind of folktales. (Cinderella, etc.) 2.2.2 Functions of Myths 1. Religion. The myth explains the religious beliefs and justifies religious rituals. Most Greek and Roman stories reflect the universal preoccupation with creation, the nature of god and humankind, the afterlife, and other spiritual concerns. The myths defined which god the people should turn to in times of need. For instance, those wanting safe voyage on the seas would make a sacrifice to Poseidon (Neptune). The Olympic Games were part of a huge religious festival that took place to honor Zeus. The religious rituals were an important part of not only the religion itself, but also of social order. Because the myths explained and justified these rituals and actions, the ancients relied heavily on myths to guide them along the correct path; they needed myths in order to appease the gods and to maintain an organized community. 2. Myth and etiology (αἰτία, aitia: cause, reason). Myths attempt to explain the origin of our physical world: the earth and the heavens; where human beings came from and the dichotomy between body and soul; the source of beauty and goodness, and of evil and sin; the nature and meaning of love; and so on. It is difficult to tell a story that does not reveal, and at the same time somehow explain, something. Myths also venture to answer the more everyday wonderings: the origin of certain constellations, why the spider weaves a web, etc. This explanatory element of the myth is quite important to its structure. “… la cultura mediática cumple respecto de las sociedades contemporáneas una función análoga en su esencia …a la que cumplía la narrativa oral en la sociedad preindustrial... Las narrativas mediáticas de nuestro tiempo representan y recrean la realidad social; dan cuento del caos y la contingencia convirtiéndolos en experiencia articulada y significativa; sintetizan las innumerables vivencias en relatos que, al darles forma y ponerlas en relación, les confieren origen, sentido y finalidad.” (A. Chillón 2000, 153) 3. Establishing natural and social order. The myths establish rules to maintain order in society by showing what is and what is not acceptable behavior. Because myths were created by a collective people, they evolved and changed in small ways, depending on whom was recounting the tale and whom the audience was. The myth served to paint the portrait of the ideal human behavior. It shows us what the people of a particular culture viewed as admirable, upright, and worthy of recognition and explains why some within that culture maintained a higher social standing than others. Most often, the ideal human attributes shine brightly through the character of a hero. In a sense, man is elevated to the level worthy of the same esteem as the deities—perhaps even more so considering that man does not have the same power as the immortals. A hero must display certain behaviors during his adventure to warrant admiration. For instance, he must be brave, and even when faced with the most tempting of treacheries, the hero must stay true and loyal to his allies and/or creed. Outside of the adventures and battles, he also must be devoted to his family. The hero also often exhibits a mastery of a particular skill. Though not always as celebrated as the male heroes, several women throughout classical mythology are esteemed for their attributes. The most important is the virtue of loyalty to family—even to the point of staying faithful to a husband she thinks is dead. Other common characteristics of a good woman are her cleverness, wisdom, and hospitality.

Myth and Psychology. Carl Jung: myths contain images or “archetypes”, a typical character, an action or a situation that seems to represent the universal patterns of human nature: the hero, the great mother, the old wise man... 

J. Sh. Bolen, Goddesses in Everywoman. Archetypes in Women’s Lives, 1996.

The virgin goddesses: Artemis, Athena and Hestia. They express the need in women for autonomy, and the capacity to focus on what is personally meaningful. They represent inner drives in women to develop talents, pursue interests, solve problems, compete with others, express themselves or lead contemplative lives. The vulnerable goddesses: Hera, Demeter, and Persephone. They represent the traditional roles of wife, mother, and daughter. They were dominated or humiliated by male gods. Each suffered when an attachment was broken or dishonored. The archetype motivates women to seek the rewards of relationship— approval, love, attention, and by the need to mate, to nurture, or to be dependent. The alchemical goddess: Aphrodite. She generated love and beauty, erotic attraction, sexuality, and new life. She entered relationships of her own choosing and was never victimized. She maintained her autonomy, like a virgin goddess, and was in relationships, like a vulnerable goddess, being linked with male deities and having children. The archetype motivates women to seek intensity in relationships rather than permanence, to value creative process, and be open to change. Her effect is not limited to the romantic or sexual. Whenever growth is generated, a vision supported, potential developed, a spark of creativity encouraged, then Aphrodite is there. Myths also beget kings and rulers. In Roman mythology, in particular, myths validated rulers' claims to have been descended from gods. What people wouldn't want a ruler with the power of the gods running through his veins? Or what people would dare challenge a ruler who held family ties with a deity? 4. Entertainment. Amidst all these functions of the myth lies the one function that has withstood the test of time, technology, and progression: entertainment. The myths are, above all else, stories which present all the faces of human experience. The ancient myths were often told by bards, storytellers who were well versed in heroic tales. Bards often relayed these stories through song and poetry. Because they were under pressure to please the audience, stories were sometimes altered according to the audience's wishes, yet another reason why the same story will vary a bit from myth to myth. A classical myth is a story that, through its classical form, has attained a kind of immortality because its inherent archetypal beauty, profundity, and power have inspired rewarding renewal and transformation by successive generations. (Morford 2003, 25 ) The Greeks created myths in various media. The Romans and many subsequent societies continue to be captivated by them. The versions of Oedipus by Seneca, Corneille, and Cocteau have equal validity as the vision of Sophocles for their own time and their own culture. The same may be said of the depiction of a myth on a Greek vase and a painting by Picasso, and so on in music, dance, movies, etc. 2.2.3 Sources of Roman Mythology The roots of Roman religion lay in the traditions of pre-Roman Italic peoples such as the Sabines and Etruscans.

In the 3rd century B.C., when the first historians and epic poets began to write in Latin, the influence of Greek literature was already dominant. The poet Ennius equated the 12 principal Roman gods with the 12 Olympians: Zeus/Iuppiter, Hera/Iuno, Aphrodite /Venus... Legends attached to the early history of Rome are associated with the heroes Aeneas and Romulus. These legends idealized the past, and their central figures exemplify Roman virtues. Such idealizing was especially practiced in the time of Augustus (who reigned from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14), a period of reconstruction and revival of the supposed principles of the early Romans. That’s why the principal authors who tell us the Roman legends were contemporaries of Augustus: 1.

Vergil (70-19 B.C.) developed in the Aeneid the legend of the Trojan hero Aeneas and of the Phoenician queen Dido. He preserved the saga of the fall of Troy.

2.

The historian Livy (59 B.C.-A.D. 17) recorded the foundation myths of Rome in the first book of his Ab Vrbe Condita (“From the foundation of the City”). “(6) [the traditions that belong to the period before the foundation of the city] are embellished with poetic tales rather than based on uncorrupted records of historical events. (7) … And if any people should be allowed to reckon their founders as gods, surely the military glory of the Roman people is such that, when they claim that the father of their founder was none other than Mars, the nations of the world tolerate this claim.” (Preface, 6-7)

3.

Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 17) is the most important source for classical mythology after Homer. His Metamorphoses includes more than 200 myths and has been very influential as a source for representations of the classical myths in literature and art: Echo and Narcissus, Apollo and Daphne, Pyramus and Thisbe...

2.2.4 The Aeneid: Arma virumque cano… ( "I sing of arms and of a man ... ") Vergil wrote the Aeneid between 30-19 B.C., but was unfinished at his death. The epic poem is deliberately remniscent of the Iliad (Books VI-XII) and the Odyssey (Books I-V). Vergil narrates the adventures of the Trojan Aeneas, son of Anchises and the goddess Venus, who escapes the sack of Troy and wanders, with his loyal followers, toward his appointed destiny in Italy. The Aeneid and Augustus. After the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra in 31 B.C, Octavian (Julius Caesar’s grand-nephew and heir) pretended to restore the old Roman republic, but his control of the army meant he was in charge of the empire. In 27 B.C. the senate awarded him the title ‘Augustus’ (“great, venerable”). Octavian was welcomed as a saviour by the Romans for bringing peace to Rome. The Julian clan had always reckoned its descent from Venus (from Iulus, Aeneas’ son). The Aeneid gives credibility to Augustus' divinity and honors him (propaganda): during his sojurn in Hades, Aeneas is shown the future glory of Rome, culminating with Augustus' reign. Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento (hae tibi erunt artes) pacique imponere morem, parcere subiectis et debellare superbos. (Aeneid VI, 851-3) “Remember, Roman, you rule the nations with your sway (these will be your talents) and to impose law and order in peace, to spare the conquered, and to war down the arrogant.”

Augustus started a program of restoring order by reuniting the Roman present with its old moral, religious and political traditions. Aeneas exhibits the virtues which are characteristic of

the ideal Roman: physical courage (virtus); a sense of duty to the gods, the city, and the family (pietas); a seriousness of purpose (gravitas) and a firmness of resolution (constantia). Pius Aeneas. Aeneas flees from Troy as it is sacked by the Greeks. He carries his aged father on his back, and brings the family gods with him. His son, Iulus or Ascanius, comes with him, but his wife gets left behind. The Aeneid begins with Aeneas in the seventh year of his journey from Troy to Italy. The goddess Juno hates all Trojans because of Paris’ judgment against her and wants to keep them from reaching Italy. She is also worried because she knows that a race descended from Trojan blood is destined to destroy her most beloved city, Carthage. Juno bribes Aeolus, who causes a deadly storm. Aeneas thinks he will be drowned, but Neptune calms the storm. Aeneas and his men, exhausted, head for the closest shore, on the Northern coast of Africa. Aeneas sets out with his friend Achates to explore the land. They encounter Venus, in disguise as a young huntress. She tells them the queen Dido’s story: the Phoenician Dido (Elissa) has led her people away from her home city of Tyre and her evil brother Pygmalion, who killed Dido’s husband for his money. Dido is now building a new city: Carthage. Venus wraps Aeneas and Achates in a thick mist so that they can go to Carthage unseen. They admiringly watch the building going on. The temple walls are decorated with murals of scenes from the Trojan War. Queen Dido enters. She is assigning tasks and dispensing justice when a group of the shipwrecked Trojans arrives. Venus dissolves the concealing cloud and endows Aeneas with special beauty as he stands before the queen. Dido orders a banquet for her new guests. But Venus, fearing Juno, has a plan. She replaces Ascanius with Cupid in disguise. As Dido takes the boy on her lap, Cupid fills her with passion for Aeneas. At the end of the banquet, Dido requests, “Please tell us about the treachery of the Greeks and about your own wanderings!” (Books II-III). Dido and Aeneas (Book IV). Dido confesses her love of Aeneas to her sister Anna, who encourages the romance. Often she takes Aeneas through the city, showing off its wealth. She asks Aeneas to tell his adventures again and again. All the building in Carthage stops. Juno, worried, speaks to Venus: “Why don’t we work together and make one people of the Carthaginians and Trojans? Tomorrow, Aeneas and Dido are going on a hunting trip. I will send a great storm in the middle of it. When everyone scatters, Dido and Aeneas will take refuge in the same cave. I will be present and, if you agree, I will join them in everlasting marriage.” From this day on, Dido has no more thought for her reputation. The goddess Rumor did not take long to spread the news. The word came to Iarbas, one of the suitors whom Dido had rejected. He was the son of Jupiter and a nymph. Jupiter did not ignore Iarbas’ complaints. He sends down Mercury to remind Aeneas of his destiny. Aeneas was dumbstruck by Mercury’s words. He decided to have his men prepare the fleet and tell no one, while he waited for the appropriate moment to talk with the queen. Rumor had already told Dido her of her beloved’s plans to depart.

She rushed to Aeneas and cried, “Traitor, did you think you could leave in secret? I beg you, by the marriage we have made, do not abandon me like this! There are enemies all around me, and my own people have turned against me. If only I had a little Aeneas playing in my palace! I might not feel so alone then.” Aeneas was deeply touched, but remembering Jupiter’s warnings, he said: “Dido, I will never deny that I owe you much. I never intended to deceive you or leave without telling you. But neither did I offer you marriage. If Fate allowed me to live as I wanted, Troy would still be standing. The messenger of the gods himself has told me I must leave. I am not seeking Italy of my own will.” Dido is driven mad by her grief. She resolves to commit suicide and asks Anna to build a pyre inside the palace, as if to burn the relics of Aeneas. Anna does not suspect Dido's real purpose. Dido places on the the pyre all the things Aeneas has left behind and utters a curse: “If that man must reach Italy, let him face war there and see his people dying! May there always be hatred between his people and mine, and let an avenger arise from my ashes!” Then Dido falls upon the sword. Anna cries, “Is this what you were planning all along?”, sobbing as she tries to stop the bleeding. Dido struggles to die. Juno pities her and sends down Iris to release Dido’s spirit. The rainbow goddess, consecrating a lock of Dido’s hair to the gods of the Underworld, she sais, “I now free you from your body!” In Dido, Vergil created a character who has always aroused the sympathy of his readers. Vergil took the traditional story of the founding of Carthage by the Phoenician queen Elissa and transformed the saga into a profoundly moving tragedy. Dido’s dying curse on the Trojans provides a mythical origin for the Punic wars against Carthage. The English Baroque composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695) wrote the opera Dido and Aeneas with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first performance was in or about 1689. This opera is one of the earliest and best operas ever written in English. It is based on the love story from the Aeneid, with some significant changes. The most famous aria from the opera is Dido’s lament when she’s dying: "Thy Hand, Belinda...When I Am Laid In Earth“ (Act III). Aeneas in Italy. Aeneas and his men finally landed at the Tiber River in Latium, a land ruled by King Latinus, who had one daughter named Lavinia. She was going to marry Turnus, Prince of the Rutulians. Latinus consulted the oracle: “Do not give your daughter in marriage to a Latin. Marry her to a stranger, whose race will reach the stars in glory.” Latinus received the Trojans courteously, but Juno was not about to allow a peaceful union of the peoples, and sends the Fury Alecto to visit Turnus in his sleep: “Are you going to stand by and let the king give your beloved to another man? Fight, Turnus!” The Aeneid ends with Turnus' defeat in single combat with Aeneas. We know from other sources that Aeneas married Lavinia, who gave him another son named Aeneas Silvius. Aeneas ruled for three years only. When he died, Venus received him into the heavens, as Jupiter had promised she would. The Romans believed he set the precedent for others of their people who would be deified, including Julius Caesar and Augustus. 2.2.5 The foundation of Rome: Romulus and Remus (Livy, Ab Vrbe Condita) Aeneas’ descendants ruled peacefully for three hundred years. After many generations, however, violence broke out between two brothers, Numitor and Amulius. Amulius drove his older brother off the throne. He made Numitor’s daughter, Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin so that she would not bear children who would overthrow him.

She nevertheless became pregnant by the god Mars, and gave birth to twin sons named Romulus and Remus. Amulius ordered the priestess to be imprisoned and the infants to be drowned in the Tiber river. By chance the river had overflowed its banks, making approach impossible to the place where the current was strongest. A thirsty she-wolf heard their crying, and she so gently offered her lowered dugs to the infants that the master of the royal herds, Faustulus, found her licking the boys with her tongue. The shepherd took the babies back to his wife Larentia to raise. Rome. Faustulus had long suspected that the two children were of royal blood. When the truth came out, the brothers killed Amulius and restored Numitor to the throne of Alba Longa. Romulus and Remus wished to establish a city on the spot where they had been exposed. They competed for the throne by using bird omens. Remus was the first to see six vultures. After this had been reported to the people, Romulus saw twelve vultures. A fight broke out between the brothers’ supporters, and Remus was killed in the melee. Another story is that after Romulus began to build up the city’s walls, Remus said, “Ha! Do you think those walls can keep anyone out?” and leaped over them. Romulus killed him and declared, “Let the same thing happen to anyone else who breaches my walls!” The city was founded on April 21, 753 BC. The rape of the Sabine Women. The new...