Nero Quadripes
Animalizing the Emperor in Suetonius’s Nero
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11733667 |
|---|---|
| Authors | SUSAN A CURRY (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 197-230 |
| Publication date | 2014-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Arethusa (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0004-0975 • E-ISSN: 1080-6504 |
| Publisher | Johns Hopkins University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/are.2014.0009 |
| OpenAlex | W1989071811 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
In two episodes of the Nero , Suetonius depicts the emperor acting like and adopting the posture of an animal. In the first, Nero intentionally plays “animal,” donning a hide to attack the groins of bound victims ( Ner .29). In the second, Nero involuntarily becomes animal-like, adopting a quadripedal position to enter a safe-house( Ner .48.4). Situating these “acts” within the context of Nero’s fabulously performative reign, I argue that Suetonius purposely “animalizes” Nero, thus warning that the power of the position of princeps thrusts men beyond the threshold of the “human,” rendering them not just divine but sometimes “animal.”
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology · Emperor · Literature · Performative utterance · Political science · Politics · Reign · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Law · Psychedelics and Drug Studies
| Highly cited | No |
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