Arria the Elder

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Arria the Elder († 42 AD) was a woman in ancient Rome who became famous for her suicide.

Life

Arria was married to the Roman consul Aulus Caecina Paetus . When her husband and son became seriously ill at the same time and the child died, she buried it alone to spare her husband. Paetus was involved in the uprising of Scribonianus against the emperor Claudius . After the failure of the revolt, he was brought to Rome by ship. Arria wanted to go on the ship as a slave, which she was not allowed to do. So she rented a fishing boat and followed. When relatives watched the suicidal person, she said that there was no preventing her death and hit her head against a wall so hard that she passed out. When her husband hesitated to commit suicide, Arria took the dagger, stuck it in her chest and gave it back to her husband with the words “ Paete, non dolet ” (“Paetus, it doesn't hurt.”). This deed handed down by Pliny established their fame. Her daughter Arria the Younger was married to Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus . Fannia , the granddaughter of the elder Arria, told Pliny about her grandmother's deeds.

reception

The death of Arria and Paetus was implemented in the visual arts many times. Thus creating Benjamin West 1766 a painting Paetus and Arria , Joseph Nollekens 1771, the group sculpture Paetus and Arria and Jean Baptiste Philippe Emile bins in 1861 a painting Arria and Paetus .

Examples of a musical implementation are Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubarts and Pasquale Anfossis Paetus and Arria. A song from 1786 and William Shield's Arria to Pætus. [Song.] With an Accompanyment for a Harpsichord or Piano Forte. The Words by Mr. Holcroft. [London], 1786.

The story also inspired some authors. So wrote Persius some verses that are not obtained and Martial an epigram that Ewald Christian von Kleist nachdichtete in German. Further literary implementations are:

  • Marie-Anne Barbier : Arrie et Pétus . In: Tomyris. Arrie et Petus. Le Cid . Barbou, Paris 1707 (French tragedy).
  • Johann Heinrich Merck : Pätus and Arria, an artist romance . Perrenon, Freistadt on Lake Constance 1775.
  • John Nicholson: Paetus and Arria. A tragedy, in five acts . Lackington, Allen, and Co. [et al. a.], London 1809 (tragedy in five acts).
  • Josef Wenzig : Arria a Pätus. Historicky obraz v 5 jedn . Kober, Prague 1872 (historical picture in five acts).
  • Józef Kościelski : Arria . Paszkowski, Cracow 1874 (Polish tragedy in three acts).

  • Arria and Paetus (painting by Nicolaus Knüpfer, before 1655)

  • Arria et Pætus (sculpture by Pierre Lepautre and Jean-Baptiste Théodon, around 1690)

  • The group of Gauls from Villa Ludovisi was also identified earlier as Arria and Paetus

  • La Mort de Paetus (painting by Antoine Rivalz, before 1735)

  • Paetus and Arria (engraving by John Boydell , after a drawing by Robert Dunkarton after a painting by Benjamin West , 1773)

  • Arria and Paetus (painting by François Vincent, 1785)

  • Arria and Paetus (sketch by Dante Gabriel Rossetti , 1872)

swell

literature

  • Simone Follet: Arria (maior). In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 1, CNRS, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-222-04042-6 , pp. 595-596; Addendum to the iconography by François Queyrel in the volume Supplément , Paris 2003, ISBN 2-271-06175-X , p. 80
  • Bärbel von Hesberg-Tonn: Coniunx carissima. Investigations into the norm character in the appearance of Roman women . Dissertation, Stuttgart 1983, pp. 98-101
  • Bernhard Kytzler: women of antiquity . Artemis, Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-7608-1084-5 , p. 29f.

Web links

Commons : Arria  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Pliny the Younger : Epistulae . III, 16, 6 and 13 ; Cassius Dio : LX, 16 ( English translation by LacusCurtius ); Publius Cornelius Tacitus : Annales XVI, 34
  2. ^ Catalog of Pictures and Drawings by the Late Benjamin West, ESQ. CH Reynell, London 1826, p. 32, Google Book Search ; Benjamin West . On worcesterart.org
  3. ↑ John Thomas Smith: Nollekens and his times . 2 volumes, Henry Colburn, London 1828, p. 79 Google book search
  4. ↑ Entry: Bin (spr. Bäng), Jean Baptiste Philippe Emile . In: Hermann Alex. Müller: Biographical Artist Lexicon . Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1882, p. 52.
  5. ↑ Martial : Epigrammata . I, 13
  6. ↑ Ewald Christian von Kleist : On the Arria, wed of the Pätus .
personal data
SURNAME Arria the Elder
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman suicide
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC BC or 1st century
DATE OF DEATH 42