Circe and Rome. The Origin of the Legend

Authors

  • Hanna Zalewska-Jura Uniwersytet Łódzki, Wydział Filologiczny, Katedra Filologii Klasycznej, ul. Pomorska 171/173, 90-236 Łódź, Polska/Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.08.04

Keywords:

Circe, myth, history of Roman Italy, ancient and Byzantine scholarly works

Abstract

Circe is associated first of all with the episode narrated in the 10th book of the Odyssey, in which she turns Odysseus’s crewmen into pigs using her herbal pharmaka. Odysseus survives due to divine help, his inborn cleverness, and the miraculous herb moly. The fairy-tale theme of the spells of Circe, clearly showing its folk provenance, got entrenched in ancient literature: featured most often in poems of playful content, Circe symbolized the power to subjugate male souls and bodies. From the Hellenistic era to the Byzantine times, however, Circe is mentioned in scholarly works – in the context of the history of Roman Italy. The aim of the present article is, first of all, to analyse the Greek-language source texts and show the ways in which ancient authors managed to connect a character from a folk fairy tale – intrinsically different in form and not identifiable with any heroic myth – with the prehistory of Roman Italy, and even place her among the ancestors of Rome. The considerations also allow us to identify some of the mechanisms of the creation and functioning of the legend as a cultural phenomenon of the ancient world.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, ed. H.Fränkel, Oxford 1961 [= Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis].
Google Scholar

Cassianus Bassus, Geoponica sive Cassiani Bassi Scholastici de re rustica eclogae, ed. H. Beckh, Leipzig 1895 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

Dionysii Halicarnasei antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt, vol. I–II, ed. C. Jacoby, Leipzig 1885–1888 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

Eustathius, Commentarium in Dionysii periegetae orbis descriptionem, [in:] Geographi Graeci minores, vol. II, ed. K. Müller, Paris 1861.
Google Scholar

Georgius Syncellus, Ecloga chronographica, ed. A.A. Mosshammer, Leipzig 1984 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

Herodianus, De prosodia catholica, [in:] Grammatici Graeci, ed. A. Lentz, vol. III.1, Leipzig 1867.
Google Scholar

Hesiodus, Theogonia, ed. M.L. West, Oxford 1966.
Google Scholar

Ioannus Lydus, De mensibus, ed. R. Wünsch, Leipzig 1898 [repr. Stuttgart 1967].
Google Scholar

Philostephanus Cyrenaeus, Fragmenta, [in:] Fragmenta historicorum graecorum, vol. I–V, ed. C. Müller, Paris 1841–1870.
Google Scholar

Plutarchi vitae parallelae, vol. I.1, ed. K. Ziegler, Leipzig 1969 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

Procopius Caesarensis, De bellis, [in:] Procopii Caesariensis opera omnia, vol. I–II, ed. G. Wirth, J. Haury, Leipzig 1962–1963 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

Stephanus Byzantius, Ethnica (epitome), ed. A. Meineke, Berlin 1849.
Google Scholar

Strabo, Geographica, ed. A. Meineke, vol. I–III, Leipzig 1877.
Google Scholar

Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica, trans. R.C. Seaton, London 1912 [= Loeb Classical Library, 1].
Google Scholar

The Geography of Strabo, vol. I–III, trans. H.C. Hamilton, W. Falconer, London 1903–1906.
Google Scholar

Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, trans. H.G. Evelyn-White, London 1914 [= Loeb Classical Library, 57].
Google Scholar

John Lydus, On the Months (De mensibus), trans. et ed. M. Hooker, 2017, http://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/John-Lydus-On-the-Months-tr.-Hooker-2nd-ed.-2017-1.pdf [28 I 2018].
Google Scholar

Plutarch’s Lives, vol. I, trans. B. Perrin, London 1914 [= Loeb Classical Library, 46].
Google Scholar

Procopius, History of the Wars, vol. III, Books 5 – 6.15. (Gothic War), trans. H.B. Dewing, Cambridge Massachusetts 1916 [= Loeb Classical Library, 107].
Google Scholar

The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, trans. E. Cary, London 1879.
Google Scholar

Barron J.P., Hesiod, [in:] The Cambridge History of Classical Literature, vol. I, Greek Literature, ed. P.E. Easterling, E.J. Kenney, Cambridge 1987, p. 96–97.
Google Scholar

Bartol K., Danielewicz J., Komedia grecka od Epicharma do Menandra. Wybór fragmentów, Warszawa 2011.
Google Scholar

Bobrowski A., “Dziennik wojny trojańskiej” Diktysa z Krety. Studium historycznoliterackie, Kraków 2009.
Google Scholar

Kirk G.S., Homer, [in:] The Cambridge History of Classical Literature, vol. I, Greek Literature, ed. P.E. Easterling, E.J. Kenney, Cambridge 1987, p. 85–91.
Google Scholar

Kobus-Zalewska H., Wątki i elementy mityczne w epigramach Antologii Palatyńskiej, Wrocław 1998 [= Archiwum Filologiczne, 54].
Google Scholar

Rostropowicz J., Apolloniosa z Rodos epos o Argonautach, Opole 1988.
Google Scholar

Rybowska J., Hekate – bogini o wielu twarzach, [in:] Czary, alchemia, opętanie w kulturze na przestrzeni stuleci. Studia przypadków, ed. J. Pietrzak-Thébault, Ł. Cybulski, Warszawa 2015, p. 53–68.
Google Scholar

Stabryła S., Wergiliusz. Świat poetycki, 2Wrocław 1987.
Google Scholar

Zalewska-Jura H., Mythical Motifs in Early Byzantine Epigrams, [in:] The Metamorphoses of Ancient Myths, ed. M. Budzowska, B.Ídem Dinçel, J. Czerwińska, K. Chiżyńska, Frankfurt am Main 2017, p. 103–109.
Google Scholar

Zalewska-Jura H., W rytmie sikinnis. Studium nad warstwą aluzji i podtekstów w greckim dramacie satyrowym, Łodź 2006 [= Rozprawy Habilitacyjne Uniwersytetu Łodzkiego].
Google Scholar

Downloads

Published

2018-12-30

How to Cite

Zalewska-Jura, H. (2018). Circe and Rome. The Origin of the Legend. Studia Ceranea, 8, 77–87. https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.08.04

Issue

Section

Articles

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Similar Articles

<< < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.