Between Hell and Paradise. The legend of the soul of the Emperor Trajan (original) (raw)
Related papers
O. Hekster et al., The Fame of Trajan: A Late Antique Invention, Klio 104:2 (2022), 693-749
2022
Trajan's status as a model emperor is perhaps most famously expressed in Eutropius' catchphrase "More fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan" (Eutr. Brev. 8.5.3). Modern scholarship has similarly stressed Trajan's exemplary status, assuming that Trajan's virtues were already a point of departure by which to measure second-and third-century emperors. This article challenges that notion; it argues that Trajan's status as a model emperor was a late-antique literary construct. Trajan only entered the repertoire of exemplary emperors during the course of the fourth century to become the model emperor in the very latefourth-and early-fifth century. This development depended on the historical context and ideological demands, as well as on the availability of the then-existing material discussing and depicting the historical Trajan.
The Fame of Trajan: A Late Antique Invention
Klio, 2022
Trajan’s status as a model emperor is perhaps most famously expressed in Eutropius’ catchphrase “More fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan” (Eutr. Brev. 8.5.3). Modern scholarship has similarly stressed Trajan’s exemplary status, assuming that Trajan’s virtues were already a point of departure by which to measure second- and third-century emperors. This article challenges that notion; it argues that Trajan’s status as a model emperor was a late-antique literary construct. Trajan only entered the repertoire of exemplary emperors during the course of the fourth century to become the model emperor in the very late-fourth- and early-fifth century. This development depended on the historical context and ideological demands, as well as on the availability of the then-existing material discussing and depicting the historical Trajan.
Apocrypha, 2001
AND THE CHRISTIAN MYTH OF THE HARROWING OF HELL Though it has been known intuitively for many decades, recent studies on the Evangelium Nicodemi have proven that this literary achievement has been one of the most influential and enduring of all the vast body of Christian apocrypha} Explanations for this appeal and longevity, however couched in the metaphors of Jungian analysis, as with Alan Watts,2 or established as universal mythology as in Joseph Campbell,3 or as popular religion and theology as recently studied by Remi Gounelle,4 all of these explanations agree that the apocryphal gospel exerts a powerful attraction on the human spirit. The following discussion will argue that this attraction can be explained in part because of a resonance between significant features in this work and the most profound aspects of Late Antiquity; put simply, the Evangelium drew its symbolic structure from the most significant components of its cultural environment, and in turn it contributed a new imaginative universe. Specifically, I propose that an obsessive focus on civic liberty, justice, clemency, and vindication, all articulated in the energetic displays of Roman Imperial oratory and iconography from the second to the fourth centuries, so captured the popular
Vigiliae Christianae, 2022
Rufinus’ account of Pliny the Younger’s correspondence with Trajan regarding the treatment of Christians (Ep. 10.96–7) differs from Eusebius’ in three important ways: linking persecution to internal divisions within the Church; accentuating Pliny’s compassion for the Christian dead; and removing his skepticism regarding the Christian worship of a divine Christ. This article analyses these changes in light of Rufinus’ early fifth century context, especially the development of the cult of martyrs in northern Italy, and the Theodosian use of Trajan in imperial representations.
The man who outstrips all others.Trajan's Column and senatorial remembrance culture
BABESCH. Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology 98, 2023
Most scholars regard Trajan’s Column and in particular its spiral relief as a medium of imperial self-representation. My article analyses the Column, moreover, as an honorific monument that had been decreed by the senate and that should be seen, thus, also as an expression of aristocratic ideas. It will be established that its architecture and décor as well as the sepulchre in the pedestal draw upon republican traditions and relate Trajan to renowned figures of the past. These ideas find several parallels in the senatorial literature of Trajan’s reign and fit at best into the emperor’s representation as a restorer of republican ideals and of the senate’s liberty after recent dark ages.
Son of two fathers? Trajan and the adoption of emperorship in the Roman Empire.
Roman imperial succession was in practice a dynastic system. Since the Roman Empire had a high rate of child-mortality, many of the rulers did not have surviving biological sons. This made adoption a standard method of appointing an heir. There was, however, a clear preference for consanguineals when adopting someone into the imperial family. The only exception to this practice of adopting a family member as imperial successor was the adoption by the emperor Nerva (96–98) of Trajan (98–117). This article analyses some of the possible motives for this break with precedent, and the consequences for the ways in which imperial ancestry was represented. There was a noticeable emphasis on Trajan's biological father, the Elder Trajan, towards the end of the emperor's reign, but not similarly pronounced in all ancient ‘media’. Attention to the Elder Trajan was limited to Rome, where the new form of imperial adoption seems to have led to discussions about the relative merits of succession by adoption or through bloodline. These discussions are not traceable to the provinces, where images of imperial ancestry stuck to precedent. The mixed messages from the centre were apparently not sufficient to change local expectations.
Heródoto - Revista do Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre a Antiguidade Clássica e suas Conexões Afro-asiáticas, 2018
The present paper begins with a description of the Roman world after the Tetrarchy, with the fight for power between Constantine and, later, Licinius. We analyzed the political matters concerning the Roman world during this period. The numismatic collection stored at the Museu Histórico Nacional (National Historical Museum – MHN) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, served as an iconographic source to show how images were used at that time as propaganda, supporting and legitimizing the imperial rule.
Trouble in Pontus: The Pliny–Trajan Correspondence on the Christians Reconsidered
TAPA, 2017
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