Description: Roman Luxuria by Francesca Romana Berno This book examines the etymological and semantic origins of luxuria in key Latin texts. It discusses the influence of Greek culture on the Roman concept and examines a wide array of classical authors and genres to trace how luxuria becomes one of the Seven Capital Sins in late antiquity, representing the vice of lust. FORMAT Hardcover CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description In classical Latin, luxuria means desire for luxury; it is linked with the ideas of excess and deviation from a standard. It is in most cases labelled as a vice which contrasts with the innate frugal nature of the Romans. Latin authors do not see it as endemic but as an import from the East in the aftermath of military conquests--and as a cause of fatal decline. Following these etymological and semantic origins, Roman Luxuria: ALiterary and Cultural History discusses the influence of Greek culture on the Roman concept and the peculiar characteristics of Roman luxuria. It analyses Roman views on luxuria through close readings inhistorical order from Cato the Elder, who regards luxuria as the opposite of the ideal Roman way of life, to the Christian poet Prudentius, who represents it in an allegorical fight with Sobriety. The book attends both to key authors and to wider literary genres, such as historiography and satire. Particular consideration is given to the rhetorical device of personification, which can be traced from the first appearances of luxuria in Latin literature to those of lateantiquity. Berno devotes detailed attention to Seneca the Younger, whose work is often preoccupied with this passion. Seneca both defends himself from the charge of luxuria and violently attacks it inothers, describing it as the archenemy of a philosophical life. Along the centuries, the focus on luxuria shifts from the economic sphere (and the waste of money) to the erotic, to the extent that in the Christian world it becomes one of the Seven Capital Sins representing the vice of lust. Author Biography Francesca Romana Berno is Associate Professor of Latin Language and Literature, Sapienza University of Rome. Her interests lie in prose writers, especially Seneca and Cicero, and in the semantics and expression of philosophical concepts, with special reference to ethics. She has also written previously on Senecan tragedies and Ovid. In 2021, she founded the open access international review "Lucius Annaeus Seneca". Table of Contents Preface and acknowledgementsAbbreviations1: What does luxuria mean?2: Luxuria: A short history3: Senecas luxuria4: Seneca against luxuria5: From luxuria to lustBibliographyIndex of PassagesGeneral Index Review Bernos new book is a very useful point of reference for scholars interested in the history of the concept of luxuria in Roman antiquity. Full of stimulating interpretations of different authors and texts dating from the early second century BCE to the end of the fourth century CE, it offers the reader a substantial and well-structured study of the gradual semantic development of luxuria from material luxury to sexual desire. By compiling this convenient handbook, Berno has done all students of Roman virtue ethics a great service. * Heiko Westphal, Bryn Mawr Classical Review * Long Description In classical Latin, luxuria means desire for luxury; it is linked with the ideas of excess and deviation from a standard. It is in most cases labelled as a vice which contrasts with the innate frugal nature of the Romans. Latin authors do not see it as endemic but as an import from the East in the aftermath of military conquests--and as a cause of fatal decline. Following these etymological and semantic origins, Roman Luxuria: A Literary and Cultural History discusses the influence of Greek culture on the Roman concept and the peculiar characteristics of Roman luxuria. It analyses Roman views on luxuria through close readings in historical order from Cato the Elder, who regards luxuria as the opposite of the ideal Roman way of life, to the Christian poet Prudentius, who represents it in an allegorical fight withSobriety. The book attends both to key authors and to wider literary genres, such as historiography and satire. Particular consideration is given to the rhetorical device of personification, which can be traced from the first appearances of luxuria in Latin literature to those of late antiquity. Berno devotes detailed attention to Seneca the Younger, whose work is often preoccupied with this passion. Seneca both defends himself from the charge of luxuria and violently attacks it in others, describing it as the archenemy of a philosophical life. Along the centuries, the focus on luxuria shifts from the economic sphere (and the waste of money) to the erotic, to the extent that in the Christian world it becomes one of the Seven Capital Sins representing the vice oflust. Details ISBN019284640X Author Francesca Romana Berno Publisher Oxford University Press Year 2023 ISBN-10 019284640X ISBN-13 9780192846402 Format Hardcover Pages 304 Imprint Oxford University Press Subtitle A Literary and Cultural History Place of Publication Oxford Country of Publication United Kingdom NZ Release Date 2023-03-17 Publication Date 2023-03-17 DEWEY 870.9353 Audience Professional & Vocational UK Release Date 2023-03-17 AU Release Date 2023-06-08 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:160042544;
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