Cvcvta Ab Rationibvs Neronis Avgvsti
A Joke at Nero's Expense
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5779472 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Shushma Malik (0000-0001-9708-8499, University of Roehampton, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 69 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 783-792 |
| Publication date | 2019-11-12 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Classical Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0009-8388 • E-ISSN: 1471-6844 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0009838819000910 |
| OpenAlex | W2985994906 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 34 |
On the outside wall and in the vestibule of the 'House of Publius Paquius Proculus' in Pompeii (building I.7.1) three graffiti containing the name Cucuta can be found. The first simply reads Cucuta ( CIL 4.8065 [outside wall]). The second tells us that Cucuta was an attendant of the Emperor Nero ( CIL 4.8066 [outside wall]): Cu(cuta) | Cucuta Ner(onis). From the third we learn that Cucuta was a financial secretary ( a rationibus ) of Nero ( CIL 4.8075 [vestibule]): Cucuta ab ra[t]ioni[b]us | Neronis Augusti . While the meaning and significance of these graffiti may seem apparent-that one of Nero's attendants scratched his name on the wall and vestibule pillar as he waited for the emperor to return from a meeting-the closeness between Cucuta (an otherwise unattested name) and cicuta (hemlock) raises a key question: should we read Cucuta as Cicuta and therefore understand the third graffito in particular as a joke about Nero's rumoured fondness for killing family, friends and his senatorial enemies with poison? In other words, is it Poison, and not a person, that keeps Nero's finances in order? And, if so, can the Cucuta graffiti give us an alternative insight into the plethora of wall inscriptions found outside building I.7.1 greeting Publius Paquius Proculus and recommending him for office
Ancient history · Art · Emperor · Graffiti · Joke · Literature · Meaning (existential · Visual arts · Classical Antiquity Studies · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · History · Law in Society and Culture · Philosophy
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| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2020 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |