{"title":"A Learned Dog: Roman Elegy and the Epitaph for Margarita","authors":"Grace Funsten","doi":"10.1353/tcj.2024.a919681","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: The epitaph for Margarita ( CIL 6.29896) consists of six elegiac couplets in Latin engraved on a small marble plaque in commemoration of a domestic dog. It was discovered in Rome and likely made in the second century CE. In this paper I examine its allusions to Augustan elegy and verse epitaphs for humans, arguing that it humorously applies eroticizing and literary language to a dog. I then consider Margarita’s status as an import from Gaul, arguing that the epitaph fits into a broader tendency of Augustan elegy to use foreign luxuries to eroticize and naturalize Roman imperialism.","PeriodicalId":35668,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL JOURNAL","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"CLASSICAL JOURNAL","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcj.2024.a919681","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"CLASSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract: The epitaph for Margarita ( CIL 6.29896) consists of six elegiac couplets in Latin engraved on a small marble plaque in commemoration of a domestic dog. It was discovered in Rome and likely made in the second century CE. In this paper I examine its allusions to Augustan elegy and verse epitaphs for humans, arguing that it humorously applies eroticizing and literary language to a dog. I then consider Margarita’s status as an import from Gaul, arguing that the epitaph fits into a broader tendency of Augustan elegy to use foreign luxuries to eroticize and naturalize Roman imperialism.
期刊介绍:
The Classical Journal (ISSN 0009–8353) is published by the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS), the largest regional classics association in the United States and Canada, and is now over a century old. All members of CAMWS receive the journal as a benefit of membership; non-member and library subscriptions are also available. CJ appears four times a year (October–November, December–January, February–March, April–May); each issue consists of about 100 pages.