Search results for "Epicureanism"
showing 2 items of 12 documents
Vox Naturae: The Myth of Animal Nature in the Latin Roman Republic
2016
The paper examines the representation of animals as embodiment of nature in the culture of the late Roman republic. By discussing a selection of passages from Sallust, Cicero and Lucretius in conjunction with other Greek and Latin sources, the paper shows that the typically Western myth of 'animal nature' - the cultural belief that animal mirror a perennial state of nature, as opposed to human society - played a very important role in the ethical debate of the first century BC and took in this period a form which was bound to influence the centuries to come.
Physiologizing (In)fertility in the Roman World: Lucretius on Sacrifice, Nature, and Generation
2016
The present paper reassesses the intellectual background of Lucretius’ treatment of infertility in 4.1233-1241, pointing out the author’s ability to combine genuine Epicurean doctrine and Roman cultural patterns. Lucretius’ denigration of religious mentality and his efforts to offer an entirely rational explanation of (in)fertility are interpreted in light of both internal evidence in the De Rerum Natura (e.g. 1.1-20; 248-264; 2.581- 660) and differents kinds of external evidence - including the so-called Laudatio Turiae, Rome’s fertility cults, and underused Epicurean sources such as PHerc 908/1390. Indeed, while systematically delegitimizing the traditional connection between supernatural…