Classics Faculty Work
Title
Montium Domina: Catullus’ Diana, Rome, and the Moon’s Bastard Light
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2015
Publication Title
Acta Classica
Volume Number
58
Issue Number
1
DOI
10.15731/AClass.058.02
Abstract
Catullus' hymn to Diana (Carm. 34) has several affinities with his galliambic Carm. 63, the Attis poem. Close investigation of parallels between these works demonstrates the poet's concern with the problem of the transition from a Trojan past to an Italian present for the construction of a Roman identity, a problem that can be typified by the relationship of the Italian Diana and the Trojan mother goddess Cybele. Further, certain aspects of Catullus' depiction of the tension inherent to the synergy of the two goddesses in the religious identity of Rome can be seen to have influenced the climactic revelation of the future Roman identity in the closing movements of the Virgilian Aeneid.
ISSN
0065-1141
First Page
27
Last Page
46
Recommended Citation
Fratantuono, Lee M., "Montium Domina: Catullus’ Diana, Rome, and the Moon’s Bastard Light" (2015). Classics Faculty Work. 21.
https://digitalcommons.owu.edu/clas_pubs/21
Link Out URL
https://doi.org/10.15731/AClass.058.02