Season 4: Ancient Roman Poetry, Prose, and Drama

Roman Literature’s Birth

Roman poetry, prose, and more generally, art, are not what most of us think about when we think about Rome. Due to the smear campaigns of Revelation and church fathers like Augustine; moreover, due to modern media obsessed with gladiators, battle tactics, and engineering, we don’t often think of ancient Rome as a very artistic place. It was. During Rome’s 600-year hegemony over the Mediterranean and Europe, poets, playwrights, philosophers, and later, novelists, set the stage for literature’s future. Importantly, it was Roman poetry, and not Greek poetry, that never went out of circulation. For a thousand years before the Renaissance, Latin, and not Greek, was the liturgical language of western Europe. Shakespeare, and many like him, read Seneca and Ovid, and not Homer and Sophocles.

We begin the long story of Roman literature with Episode 42, which discusses the earliest known Latin inscriptions and literary works, and their evolution from native Italian traditions like Oscan, Messapic, and of course, Greek. The next pair of episodes are far simpler. Episode 43 summarizes and contextualizes Plautus’ play The Rope (c. 190 BCE). And Episode 44 does the same for Terence’s The Brothers (c. 160 BCE).

Roman Poetry, Prose, and Drama During the Early First Century BCE

The story of the Roman republic’s decline during the final century BCE might be the most popular tale in all of history. Our podcast begins the tale with Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things (c. 60 BCE), our primary source text on Epicureanism. Epicureanism (contrary to common misunderstandings) encouraged tranquility, moderation, and the presence of close friends. As such, it was was one solution to the troubled times of the first century. Another was active political participation. We explore the incredible life and career of the orator Cicero in a three-program sequence (Episode 46, Episode 47, and Episode 48). Then, it’s on to Roman poetry proper, beginning with the ribald and ingenious verses of Catullus in Episode 49.

Roman Poetry of the Augustan Age

Augustan Age, or “Golden Age” Latin literature is some of the most famous literature on Earth. Horace, Virgil, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid were Roman poetry’s main influence on the European Renaissance. Our sequence of episodes on these writers begins with two episodes on Horace (Episode 50 and Episode 51). An acute analyst of human behavior, and gentle satirist of himself above all things, Horace has been a beloved voice in literary history for two thousand years. Next, of course, is Virgil. Had Virgil only written the Eclogues (Episode 51) and the Georgics (Episode 53), he would still deservedly be famous. But with the Aeneid (Episode 54, 55, 56, and 57), Virgil rose to the summit of Roman poetry, writing an epic every bit on par with the Homeric ones. A new tradition followed Horace and Virgil. The love elegy blossomed under the pens of Tibullus and Propertius (Episode 58), and later, early Ovid (Episode 59). Roman love elegies were rarely earnest declarations from speakers to mistresses, like those of Petrarch. Roman poetry, always a little coarser and more hardheaded than poetry of the Christian era, often discusses love with frankness and pragmatism. Ovid’s Art of Love and his other, similar works (Episode 60) are love poems for grownups. Most of all, though, Ovid is famous for the Metamorphoses, (Episode 61, 62, and 63), a bundle of 250 stories which was ultimately the most influential classical text on the European Renaissance. Later, Ovid was exiled, but continued to write poetry as an older man (Episode 64)

Silver Age Roman Poetry, Prose, and Drama

Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, died in 14 CE. What followed him was the Roman empire. While the empire persisted for a long time, it was a different place than the republic. Dictators ruled by hereditary monarchy. Increasingly, cultic administrations began to surround powerful emperors, many of whom were born to the throne and had little interest in ruling Rome. Roman poetry, and other forms of literature, changed. Appropriately, the first major figure in Silver Age Latin literature is Seneca, a wealthy busybody and confederate of two different, and equally controversial imperial administrations. We cover Seneca’s life and letters (Episode 65), then his philosophy (Episode 66). Then, we explore Seneca’s tragedies Thyestes (Episode 67) and Phaedra (Episode 68).

By the first century, Roman poetry and theater weren’t the only extant genres of Latin literature. Novels existed, as well. In Episode 69, we take a look at Petronius’ Satyricon (c. 60 CE). This picaresque story of an ex-gladiator with erectile dysfunction paints quite a scurrilous portrait of Rome. So, too do Juvenal’s Satires Episode 72, one of Roman poetry’s most beloved texts during the Middle Ages.

Moving on to the Second Century

The 100s CE in Roman literature demonstrate continuity, as well as innovation. Statius’ Thebaid (c. CE 92) (Episode 70 and Episode 71) is a traditional martial epic in the style of Homer and Virgil. Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations (Episode 74) is a text in the ancient stoic tradition. Apuleius’ The Golden Ass (c. 160 CE) (Episode 73) is altogether different. A novel in which the protagonist eventually converts to the worship of Isis, The Golden Ass demonstrates how Romans of the Common Era were moving toward salvific, individual-centered religions.

Speaking of such religions, Episode 75: Dusk and Starlight prepares listeners for the upcoming season on Early Christianity. The episode also announces two new bonus sequences. The first is Christianity’s Roots a series on some of the probable pagan origins of Christianity. The second is More Greek Plays, a quintet of extra episodes on Classical Greek theater. With a staggering 143 hours of content on Ancient Near Eastern, Hebrew, Greek, and Roman culture under their belts, Literature and History listeners should be amply prepared to begin learning about the New Testament in Season 5: The New Testament and Early Christianity

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