Riva, C

English

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More Regio Vivere. Il banchetto aristocratico e la casa romana di età arcaica  by A. ZaccariaRuggiuReview by: Corinna RivaThe Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 95 (2005), pp. 300-301Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20066870 .Accessed: 13/11/2012 07:23Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp .JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. .Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to The Journal of Roman Studies.http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.64 on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:23:00 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions3??  REVIEWS A.  ZACCARIA  RUGGIU,  MORE  REGIO  VIVERE.  IL BANCHETTO  ARISTOCR?TICO  E LA CASA  ROMANA  DI  ET ?  ARCAICA  (Quaderni  di  Eutopia  4).  Rome:  Edizioni  Quasar, 2003.  Pp.  533,  121  pis.  ISBN  88-714O-207-3.  65.00. A  book  that  strings  together  all  the  various  strands  of  evidence  on  the  aristocratic  banquet  in Archaic  Italy  is a welcome  piece  of  scholarship.  Although  the  title  of  the  book  suggests  Archaic Rome  as  the  centre  of  the  author's  enquiry,  glancing  at  the  table  of  contents  in  fact  highlights Etruria,  as  a  wider  and  fundamental  context  of  comparison  with  Rome.  The  introduction  and ch.  1  introduce,  respectively,  the  main  questions  of  the  book  and  an  analysis  of  the  ancient  sources on  the  banquet.  Whilst  the  primary  concern  of  the  book  seems  here  to  be  the  origins  of  the  space devoted  to  the  banquet  in  the  Roman  house  of  the  second  century  b.c.,  the  issue  that  pervades  the remainder  of  the  book  is  the  following:  how  to  explain  the  caesura,  in  the  history  of  the  Roman banquet,  that  occurs  between  the  end  of  the  monarchy  when  the  Archaic  banquet  'disappears'  and the  second  century  b.c.  when  the  banquet  'reappears'  following  Rome's  conquest  of  Greece  and Asia  Minor?  The  institutional  nature  of  the  banquet  and  its  dependency  upon  the  ideology  of aristocratic  groups  in  Rome  as  in  Etruria  are  deemed  as  the  reasons  behind  the  visibility  and occultation  of  this  ritual  of  conviviality  at  different  times  during  the  Archaic  period  when  the oscillation  of  the  pendulum  of  political  rule  and  growing  socio-political  tensions  eventually  led  to the  fall  of  the  monarchy  and  the  establishment  of  isonomia  as  the  ideological  stance  of  the  new oligarchy  of  the Republic. Ch.  2  treats  the  origins  of  the  banquet  as  institution  from  Homer  to  the  Orientalizing  period in Tyrrhenian  Italy  and,  at  the  same  time,  gives  a  full  account  of  the  various  interpretations  that have  been  offered  on  the  banquet  both  in Greece  and  in Tyrrhenian  Italy  to  date.  Particular attention  is  devoted  to  explaining  the  shift  that  occurred  between  the  seated  and  the  recumbent banquet  and  its  social  implications,  and  the  differences  between  the  Greek  and  Italic  cultural context  including  the  participation  and  visibility  of  women  at  the  banquet ? all  themes  that  have already  been  tackled  rather  exhaustively  by  scholars  of  Greece  and  Italy  alike  from  the  1970s onwards. Chs  3  and  4  are  devoted,  respectively,  to  the  banquet  in  Etruria  and  the  banquet  in Rome  and Latium:  both  examine  closely  the  archaeological  evidence  for  the  banquet  from  key  sites, including  some  recently  published  sites  such  as  C?sale  Marittimo  near  Volterra,  and  the  Archaic houses  on  the  northern  slopes  of  the  Palatine  excavated  by  A.  Carandini  and  P.  Carafa.  In  these chapters,  beside  the  sites,  the  Archaic  architectural  terracottas  from  both  Etruria  and  Rome  take the  lion's  share  of  the  author's  attention  since,  as  the  two  following  chapters,  5  and  6,  show,  the This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.64 on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:23:00 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsIV.  art,  archaeology  and  landscape  301 use  and  the  context  and  modes  of  display  of  these  terracottas  are  crucial  for  understanding  the politico-ideological  shifts  amongst  the  ruling  Roman  ?lites  that  ultimately  led  to  the  fall  of  the monarchy.  Thus,  ch.  5  illustrates  how  the  policies  of  Servius  Tullius'  reign,  such  as  the  military and  census  reforms  and  the  new  organization  of  the  city  by  tribes,  were  aimed  at  curbing gentilicial  forms  of  power  within  the  city,  and  therefore  had  a  profound  effect  on  aristocratic customs  including  the  banquet:  hence,  the  disappearance  of  banqueting  scenes  from  the terracottas  of  this  period.  The  following  phase  of  rule  of  the  Tarquins  when  the  gentilicial ideology  and  the  aristocratic  values  of  sodalitas  were  revived  under  the  reign  of  L.  Tarquinius Superbus  is  examined  in  ch.  6:  here,  the  author  examines  the  latest  finds  from  Carandini's excavation  of  the  Palatine  houses  and  the  uncertainties  surrounding  the  excavators'  interpreta tions  particularly  in  regard  to  the  origins  of  the  atrium  house. The  following  chapter  contains  further  observations  on  the  reinstatement  of  banqueting  scenes on  the  architectural  terracottas  of  this  period,  as  well  as  an  analysis  of  the  opposed  ideologies  of political  rule ? tyranny  as  exemplified  by  L.  Tarquinius'  reign  and  oligarchic  rule ? that developed  in this phase  of  political  conflict  ending  with  the  fall  of  the monarchy,  as  reflected  in the  two  opposed  myths  of  Mezentius  and  Aeneas.  That  the  conflict  was  also  one  of  civilizations ? Etruscan  versus  Roman/Latin ? is  crucial  for  the  history  of  the  banquet,  since  by  the  early Republic  the  'ideology  of  the  banquet'  becomes  an  Etruscan  one.  More  on  the  difference  in  the treatment  of  women  in Etruria  and  Rome  ends  ch.  7.  The  final  chapter  appraises  all  these  changes in  relation  to  the  transformation  of  domestic  spaces,  and  this  involves  a  discussion  on  the  origins of  the  atrium  house,  and  the  'disappearance'  of  a  designated  banqueting  space  in  the  Roman house  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  b.c.  as  a  result  of  the  establishment  of  isonomia  and  the rejection  of  the  gentilicial  ideology  and  its  institutions.  Although  the  author's  conclusions  rest  on her  main  arguments  that  she  intimates  at  the  beginning ? the  obliteration  of  the  banquet  linked to  the  end  of  the  monarchy  and  its  restoration  with  the  advent  of  Asiatic  luxuria  in  the  second century  B.c.  ? the  author  offers  no  real  concluding  section  to  the  book.  This  is  a  pity,  given  the enormous  amount  of  material  and  the  variety  of  interpretations  that  she  aims  to  gather.  Some proper  concluding  remarks  would  have  helped  bind  together  the  material  discussed,  since  the greatest  quality  of  the  book  lies  exactly  in  compiling  the  entirety  of  previous  and  most  recent studies  on  the  Archaic  banquet  in  Greece  and  in  Italy.  At  first  glance  this  might  seem  an unnecessary  exercise  given  the  enormous  quantities  of  publications  on  the  subject,  yet  precisely because  of  these  large  quantities  the  book  is  a  useful  tool  for  study.  This  is  enhanced  by  a  compre hensive  collection  of  illustrations  with  detailed  drawings  and  maps. Yet,  the  book  is  not  without  problems.  At  first  sight,  the  reader  feels  that  the  material  is examined  in  a  very  unstructured  way  with  the  result  that  several  pages  are  filled  with  many  and frankly  frustrating  repetitions.  This,  however,  may  have  to  do  with  poor  editing  work.  Another poor  feature  of  the  book  that  strikes  the  reader  at  times  is  a  crude,  seemingly  undigested  mode  of presenting  other  scholars'  views,  almost  as  a  list  of  viewpoints  with  little  criticism  in  the exposition  of  such  views. Perhaps  the  most  serious  criticism  that  may  be  made  concerns  a matter  of  overall  interpreta tion  of  the  central  problem ? the  disappearance  of  the  aristocratic  banquet  and  the  curb  on aristocratic  consumption  as  a  politico-ideological  shift  in  Rome ? in  the  ancient  sources.  The author  finds  a  correspondence  between  the  ancient  sources  and  the  archaeological  evidence  on this  problem  that  cannot  be  fully  corroborated.  The  archaeological  desert  in  fifth-century  Rome and  the  Italic  peninsula  as  a  whole  hinders  a  clear-cut  visibility  of  transition  from  the  sixth century  that  the  author  too  readily  accepts  in  her  reliance  upon  written  sources.  Isolated  pieces  of evidence  dated  to  the  fifth  century  B.c.,  in  primis  the  Auditorium  villa  which  is  surprisingly  not even  mentioned  in  the  book,  are  a  stark  reminder  of  realities  far  more  complex  than  ancient authors  reveal.  It  is  therefore  rather  surprising  not  to  find  anywhere  in  the  book,  not  even  in  the chapters  that  analyse  the  ancient  sources  and  the  events  surrounding  the  reign  of  Servius  Tullius and  L.  Tarquinius,  even  the  slightest  intimation  that  certain  events  influencing  the visibility/invisibility  of  the  aristocratic  banquet,  such  as  the  Servian  reforms  or  even  the  expulsion of  the  kings  from  Rome,  may  be  purely  a  product  of  the  ways  in  which  the  ancient  authors represented  and  imagined  the  political  events  of  this  time. St John's  College,  Oxford  Corinna  Riva This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.64 on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:23:00 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Review of A. Zaccaria Ruggiu 'More Regio Vivere. Il banchetto aristocratico e la casa romana di età arcaica'

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