The Satyrica and the Gospels in the Second Century

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9664019
AutoresRobyn Faith Walsh (0000-0002-4929-5191, University of Miami, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen70
Número1
Páginas356-367
Fecha de publicación2020-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Classical Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0009-8388 • E-ISSN: 1471-6844
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0009838820000488
OpenAlexW3044725591
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas23

The Satyrica has long been associated with a Neronian courtier named Petronius, mentioned by Tacitus in his Annals . As such, the text is usually dated to the mid first century c.e. This view is so established that certain scholars have suggested it is ‘little short of perverse not to accept the general consensus and read the Satyrica as a Neronian text of the mid-60s ad ’. In recent years, however, there has been a groundswell of support for re-evaluating this long-held position. Laird, after comparing the ‘form and content’ of the text to the Greek novel, came to the ‘unattractive’ conclusion that the text may be second century. Similarly, in two recent pieces in CQ , Roth argues that the manumission scene in the Cena establishes a new terminus post quem for the text; she suggests that the freedoms granted by Trimalchio closely parallel—and parody—descriptions of awarding ciuitas found in the letters of Pliny the Younger. Indeed, the three slaves manumitted in the novel are associated with a boar ( Sat. 40.3–41.4), Dionysus ( Sat. 41.6–7) and a falling star ( Sat . 54.1–5); likewise, the three slaves that are the subject of Pliny's letter are C. Valerius Aper (boar), C. Valerius Dionysius (god of wine) and C. Valerius Astraeus (stars). Roth's argument suggests that the author of the Satyrica was not Nero's contemporary but a member of Pliny's intellectual circle, offering strong circumstantial evidence that troubles the accepted tradition on the work's authorship and date

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