P.Herc. 817 and the Augustan Ideology

P.Herc. 817 provides us with the remnants of an anonymous and anepigraphic poem about the capture of Egypt by Octavian in 30 B.C. In the last years, the surviving fragments have been interpreted as containing a critical text against Augustus. However, a correct reading of the text and, especially, a contextualization of the poem in relation to the motives related with the Augustan ideology, allows to truly understand the author's point of view and his positioning towards the princeps. The author depicts the virtues of Octavian and of his soldiers, characterized positively in terms of fides, potentia, etc. Octavian restrains his soldiers from plundering the city of Pelousios, so that his clementia connects him to Julius Caesar directly

Translatio imperii nella poesia epica serba

L’impero (carstvo) non è inteso nei canti epici serbi come una entità territoriale, ma come pretesa di governo universale. I suoi strumenti sono la forza e la giustizia. Quando a causa della corruzione morale uno di questi strumenti manca, l’Impero passa a un’altra entità politica più degna di governare. I rapsodi serbi sono consapevoli che l’idea dell’Impero risale all’antichità. Gli eredi di Roma erano l’Impero Romano d’Oriente, ma anche altre entità politiche medievali che hanno avuto pretese sull’Impero, incluso l’Impero serbo. Conquistando loro, l’Impero ottomano ha anche ereditato l’idea romana dell’Impero, per crollare alla fine anche da solo, lasciando lo spazio per la creazione del nuovo Impero il quale avrebbe continuato la idea di Roma

Un caso di uso politico della storia: la Battaglia della Piana dei Merli (1389)

This paper focuses on the importance of the medieval Battle of Kosovo in the Serbian national narrative. The Battle, fought in 1389, is the main subject of the most important serbian epics, collected during the 1800 by the romantic writer Vuk Karadzić. The poems enclose mythical, religious and patriotic themes, commonly confused with the real history of the Battle. By the 80s intellectuals and politicians fuelled a general understanding of the crisis of Yugoslavia as the chance to realize the legacy left by the myth, in terms of re-building a strong Serbia and avenging past and present suffering, making the battle an archetype of Serbian destiny and identity