The Aegean Imaginarium: Selected Stereotypes and Associations Connected with the Aegean Sea and Its Islands in Roman Literature in the Period of the Principate

Q2 Arts and Humanities
B. Kołoczek
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

This article is devoted to the rarely addressed problem of Roman stereotypes and associations connected with the Aegean Sea and its islands in the works of Roman authors in the first three centuries of the Empire. The image of the Aegean islands in the Roman literature was somewhat incongruously compressed into contradictory visions: islands of plenty, desolate prisons, always located far from Italy, surrounded by the terrifying marine element. The positive associations stemmed from previous cultural contacts between the Aegean and Rome: the Romans admired the supposedly more developed Greek civilisation (their awe sometimes underpinned by ostensible disparagement), whereas their elites enjoyed their Aegean tours and reminisced about past glories of Rhodes and Athens. The negative associations came from the islands’desolation and insignificance; the imperial authors, associating the Aegean islets with exile spots, borrowed such motifs from classical and Hellenistic Greek predecessors. The Aegean Sea, ever-present in the rich Greek mythical imaginarium, inspired writers interested in myth and folklore; other writers associated islands with excellent crops and products, renowned and valued across the Empire.
爱琴海想象:元首统治时期罗马文学中与爱琴海及其岛屿有关的刻板印象和联想
本文致力于探讨罗马人对爱琴海及其岛屿的刻板印象和联想,这一问题在罗马帝国的前三个世纪的罗马作家的作品中很少被提及。在罗马文学中,爱琴海岛屿的形象有些不协调地被压缩成相互矛盾的景象:富饶的岛屿,荒凉的监狱,总是远离意大利,被可怕的海洋元素包围。这种积极的联系源于爱琴海和罗马之间先前的文化接触:罗马人钦佩据说更发达的希腊文明(他们的敬畏有时以表面上的轻蔑为基础),而他们的精英们则享受他们的爱琴海之旅,回忆过去的罗德岛和雅典的辉煌。负面的联想来自于这些岛屿的荒凉和无足轻重;帝国作家将爱琴海小岛与流放地点联系在一起,从古典和希腊化的希腊前辈那里借用了这些主题。爱琴海,永远存在于丰富的希腊神话想象中,激发了对神话和民间传说感兴趣的作家;其他作家将岛屿与优良的作物和产品联系在一起,在帝国中享有盛誉和价值。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Electrum
Electrum Arts and Humanities-Classics
CiteScore
0.70
自引率
0.00%
发文量
30
期刊介绍: Electrum has been published since 1997 by the Department of Ancient History at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow as a collection of papers and monographs. In 2010 it starts as journal with one monographic issue per year. Journal publishes scholarly papers embodying studies in history and culture of Greece, Rome and Near East from the beginning of the First Millennium BC to about AD 400. Contributions are written in English, German, French and Italian. The journal publishes books reviews.
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