Neronian Literature

At an unknown point during the reign of Nero, his doctor Andromachos wrote a 174-line Greek poem describing theriac, a panacea that would make Nero invulnerable to poisons and illnesses of all kinds. While earlier all-purpose antidotes were familiar to ancient culture, Andromachos innovates by making the flesh of a poisonous snake part of the recipe.

This paper reinterprets the elogium of the emperor Nero in Lucan’s Pharsalia, 1.33-66, as a comment on Neronian poetry. Hitherto, discussion has focused overwhelmingly on the political implications of the panegyric, specifically whether it was intended ironically or not (e.g. Nock 1926; Grimal 1960; Hinds 1987), though the scholarship has reached such an impasse that Nelis (2011) could question whether we know how to read the elogium at all.

This paper will address the recurrent symbol of autophagy—that is, consuming one’s own flesh—throughout Seneca’s corpus. I argue that this symbol, which is consistently associated with acts of cupiditasand libido, acts as a metaphor for the impact of these stoic vices on the soul, as delineated more explicitly in his philosophical works.

Since Sullivan’s (1978, 1985) exploration of the anti-Neronian sentiments in Persius’ satires, novel and elaborate assessments of the satirist’s political agenda ensued. In this paper, however, I analyze an important vehicle of political discourse in Persius’ first satire, which remains understudied; namely, the myth of Midas.