Horatians
Horatius (feminine form Horatia ) was the noun of the patrician gens Horatia , the Horatians , one of the oldest families of the Roman Empire , which, however, existed as early as the 5th century BC. Chr. Died out. The events that are associated with the family are therefore to be regarded as legendary.
Under King Tullus Hostilius , Horatic triplets are said to have been around 660 BC. BC for Rome and at the same time triplets of the Curiatians for Alba Longa fought for the supremacy of their cities. One did not want to let armies loose on one another for fear of the neighboring Etruscan people . After the death of his two brothers, the youngest of the Horatians made the decision in favor of Rome by ruse. He then killed his sister, who was engaged to a curiate because she was mourning him. Nevertheless, he was acquitted by the people's assembly because he had shown bravery in battle, stood firm in court and did not want to take the last offspring from his father. This process became legendary in Roman law, and Cicero also invoked it 600 years later ( Pro Milone 3, 7 ). The Tigillum Sororium ("sister bar ") in Rome was a reminder of the events until the 4th century AD.
In later times there were bearers of the name Horatius who did not descend from the patrician family.
Well-known namesake are:
- Horatius Cocles , folk hero towards the end of the 6th century BC Chr.
- Marcus Horatius Pulvillus , Roman consul 507 BC Chr.
- Gaius Horatius Pulvillus , consul 477 and 457 BC Chr.
- Marcus Horatius Barbatus , Roman consul 449 BC. Chr.
- Lucius Horatius Barbatus, military tribune 425 BC Chr.
- Lucius Horatius Pulvillus, military tribune 386 BC Chr.
- Marcus Horatius Pulvillus (military tribune) , probably a fictional military tribune (378 BC)
- Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace for short; † 8 BC), poet
Reception in art
Significant works:
Giuseppe Cesari (1612 to 1613)
Georg Gotthart performed the Histori vom Kampff between the Romans and those of Alba in Solothurn in 1584 as a citizen play.
Giuseppe Cesari created the fresco The Battle between the Horatians and the Curiatians in Rome from 1612 to 1613 (see illustration).
In 1640, Pierre Corneille dramatized the subject matter in Horace , which Antonio Salieri used in the opera Les Horaces , which premiered in 1786 .
Jacques-Louis David created the famous painting The Horatians' Oath in 1784 (see illustration).
Heiner Müller took up the subject in his 1968 dramatization The Horatier as a moral dilemma. Should the Horatian be worshiped as a hero or killed as a murderer? Ultimately, you choose both in a row - the Horatian is first honored, then killed. The decisive question, however, is how it should be thought of. It is decided to always name his merit and his guilt at the same time, "not fearing the impure truth [...], not hiding the rest". With this, Müller describes a different solution, namely one that describes the contradictions of human action by “making things clear”.
literature
- Linda Simonis: Horatier and Curiatier. In: Peter von Möllendorff , Annette Simonis, Linda Simonis (ed.): Historical figures of antiquity. Reception in literature, art and music (= Der Neue Pauly . Supplements. Volume 8). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2013, ISBN 978-3-476-02468-8 , Sp. 515-524.