Marcus Terentius Varro
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| - | '''''Satyricon''''' (or '''''Satyrica''''') is a [[Latin literature|Latin novel]], believed to have been written by [[Petronius|Gaius Petronius]], though the manuscript text of the ''Satyricon'' calls him Titus Petronius. This classic erotica was later made into a [[Satyricon (film)|film]] by [[Fellini]]. | + | '''Marcus Terentius Varro''' (116 BC – 27 BC), also known as '''Varro Reatinus''' to distinguish him from his younger contemporary [[Varro Atacinus]], was a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] scholar and writer. |
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| - | The surviving text, a mixture of prose and poetry, details the [[misadventure]]s of the narrator, Encolpius, and his lover, a handsome sixteen year old boy named Giton. Throughout the novel, Encolpius has a hard time keeping his lover [[faithful]] to him as he is constantly being [[entice]]d away by others. Encolpius' friend Ascyltus (who seems to have previously been in a relationship with Encolpius) is another major character but he disappears from the narrative half way through the surviving text. It is a rare example of a [[Roman novel]], the only other surviving example (quite different in style and plot) being ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' written by [[Lucius Apuleius]]. It is also extremely important evidence for the reconstruction of what [[everyday life]] must have been like for the [[lower class]]es during the early Roman Empire. | + | |
| - | ===Genre=== | + | |
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| - | The ''Satyricon'' is considered one of the gems of [[Western literature]], and may be the earliest extant work classifiable as a [[novel]], although some would give that honour to [[Chariton]]'s ''[[Chaereas and Callirhoe]]''. Unlike Fellini’s film discussed below, the caricature of the ''Satyricon'' does not deform the everyday life of the Roman people. Petronius uses real names for all his characters, most of them laypeople, who talk about the [[theatre of ancient Rome]], the [[amphitheatre]] (of which the most famous was the [[Colloseum]]) and the [[Circus#Circus in the ancient world|circus]] with the same enthusiasm of today’s fans of football and other team sports. If there is parody in the ''Satyricon'' it is not about the main characters —Encolpius, Giton and Ascyltos—, but of the described social reality, and the literary genres of certain famous poets and writers, [[Homer]], [[Plato]], [[Virgil]] and [[Cicero]] included. Petronius’ realism has a Greek antecedent in [[Aristophanes]], who also abandoned the epical tone to focus on ordinary subjects. The ''Satyricon'' was widely read in the first centuries of the Common Era. Through poetry and philosophy, Greco-Roman literature had pretended to distance itself from everyday life, or to contemplate it loftily as in history or [[oratory]]. Petronius rebelled against this trend: ''“Nihil est hominum inepta persuasione falsius nec ficta severitate ineptius”'' (“There is nothing about man more false than his foolish convictions and there is nothing more stupid than hypocrite severity” —section 132). | + | |
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| - | The name “satyricon” implies that the work belongs to the type to which [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], imitating the Greek [[Menippus]], had given the character of a medley of prose and verse composition. But the string of fictitious narrative by which the medley is held together is something quite new in Roman literature. The author was happily inspired in his devices for amusing himself and thereby transmit to modern times a text based on the ordinary experience of contemporary life; the precursor of such novels as ''[[Gil Blas]]'' and ''[[Roderick Random]]''. | + | |
| - | ===Film=== | + | |
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| - | In [[1969]] [[Federico Fellini]] made a film, ''[[Satyricon (film)|Fellini Satyricon]]'', that was loosely based upon the book. The film is deliberately fragmented and [[surrealism|surreal]] though the androgynous Giton (Max Born) gives the graphic picture of Petronius’ character. Among the chief narrative changes Fellini makes to the ''Satyricon'' text is the addition of a hermaphroditic priestess, who does not exist in the Petronian version. In Fellini's adaptation, the fact that Ascyltos abducts this hermaphrodite, who later dies a miserable death in a desert landscape, is posed as an ill-omened event, and leads to the death of Ascyltos later in the film (none of which is to be found in the Petronian version). Other additions Fellini makes in his filmic adaptation: the appearance of a minotaur in a labyrinth (who first tries to club Encolpius to death, and then attempts to kiss him), and the appearance of a nymphomaniac whose husband hires Ascyltos to enter her caravan and have sex with her. | + | |
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| - | The year before another film had already been made, hence the addition of the name Fellini to the title. | + | |
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| - | ''Ciao Federico - Fellini directs Satyricon'', shot by [[Gideon Bachman]], is a making-of feature. | + | |
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Revision as of 21:15, 5 June 2009
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Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC – 27 BC), also known as Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus, was a Roman scholar and writer.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Marcus Terentius Varro" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
