This paper will focus in particular on the myth of Hercules’ enslavement to Omphale which features as the national aetiology of the nakedness of the Luperci in Book 2 of the Fasti. The protagonists of this amusing example of “sexual comedy” are Hercules, Omphale, and a salacious outsider: Faunus- Lupercus. As it happens in didactic love elegy (where Hercules plays the role of the foundational hero of the seruitium amoris), the Fasti, too, do not seem to look at this myth under a negative perspective. Despite the comic allure of the whole context, Hercules still adheres to the cliché of the strong, muscular hero, but also proves to be a champion of modern and cultivated virility. The Ovidian remake of the Hercules-Omphale myth also constitutes an interesting chapter of the early reception of Ovid’s Fasti, as is well documented by some passages from Statius’ Thebaid and Achilleid.
A Lesson from the East: A New Pattern of Virility in Ovid’s Fasti
FUCECCHI M.
2018-01-01
Abstract
This paper will focus in particular on the myth of Hercules’ enslavement to Omphale which features as the national aetiology of the nakedness of the Luperci in Book 2 of the Fasti. The protagonists of this amusing example of “sexual comedy” are Hercules, Omphale, and a salacious outsider: Faunus- Lupercus. As it happens in didactic love elegy (where Hercules plays the role of the foundational hero of the seruitium amoris), the Fasti, too, do not seem to look at this myth under a negative perspective. Despite the comic allure of the whole context, Hercules still adheres to the cliché of the strong, muscular hero, but also proves to be a champion of modern and cultivated virility. The Ovidian remake of the Hercules-Omphale myth also constitutes an interesting chapter of the early reception of Ovid’s Fasti, as is well documented by some passages from Statius’ Thebaid and Achilleid.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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