Marcus Annaeus Lucanus

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Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (German mostly Lukan , more rarely Lucan ; born November 3, 39 AD in Córdoba , † April 30, 65 in Rome ) was a Roman poet. He was a nephew of the philosopher Seneca the Younger . His father Annaeus Mela was the son of the rhetorician Seneca the Elder and brother Seneca the Younger.

Life

After the rhetorical training with the philosopher Lucius Annaeus Cornutus , Lukan was accepted into the circle of educated people at the court of Emperor Nero . Although he won a price for a panegyric on Nero among the Neronia in AD 60 , he was soon banned from publication. Perhaps the emperor was jealous of Lucan's superior poetic talent. Lukan is said to have joined the unsuccessful Pisonian conspiracy , in any case he was forced to commit suicide on April 30, 65. He cut his wrists and is said to have recited a passage from his unfinished epic (see below) while he was bleeding to death .

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De bello civili

One page of a 1373 manuscript of the epic De bello civili (Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana, Ms. 691, fol. 86v). The illumination shows Julius Caesar with a general's staff among his officers.
De bello civili (book 6 verses 368-410) in the manuscript Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana , Vaticanus Palatinus lat. 1683, fol. 44r (12th century)

Of Lucan's works, in addition to sparse fragments, only the unfinished epic about the Roman civil war between Caesar and Pompeius has survived, which is handed down in the manuscripts as De bello civili (About the civil war). According to an exposed passage in which Lukan prophesies immortality in his work (9.985f .: Pharsalia nostra / vivet, et a nullo tenebris damnabimur aevo ; “our battle at Pharsalus will live, and we will not go into darkness [of oblivion] from any age. banished ”) the epic is often cited, albeit incorrectly, as Pharsalia (for example: poem about the battle of Pharsalus ). Ten books have survived, the last of which breaks off in mid-sentence. The planned scope is controversial, presumably it should be enough in twelve books until the heroic death of Cato the Younger in Utica , since Cato emerges more and more as a hero in the course of the plot.

The highlights of the representation are the description of the sea battle in front of Massilia and the extensive description of the battle of Pharsalus. Lukan repeatedly uses digressions in his presentation, for example a very impressive catalog of the venomous snakes and the types of death caused by them, with which the Roman soldiers had to fight in the desert of North Africa. These passages of text are pervaded by horror motifs.

Not necessarily the choice of the historical theme, but its execution is extremely bold: Lukan renounces the apparatus of gods that had been customary in the epic up to then, he sees at most Fortune and fate rule over humans in blind arbitrariness. The language of Lucan is very mannered , and like all epics of the Silver Latinity , it is considerably more difficult to read than, say, Virgil or Ovid. His language, however, is characterized by rhetorical brilliance and is peppered with brilliant sentences and numerous sarcastic punchlines; the paradox is one of his most common stylistic devices . In doing so, he underlines the fundamental absurdity and perversity of the world he describes. Another important characteristic of his writing is the numerous reflective and arguing to accusatory passages, while the ancient epic usually focuses on the plot and withholds commentary.

Other works

Lukan was a prolific writer. This is attested by the catalog of works in a poem by Statius on Lukan's birthday to his widow Polla (Statius, Silvae 2, 7, 52-80) and especially the Vita that precedes the Adnotationes ad Lucanum (they are ascribed to a Vacca, which is probably " a medieval mystification ”). Works known only by name are:

  • Iliacon (on the death of Hector)
  • Catachthonion (poem about the underworld)
  • Laudes Neronis (The victory poem of the year 60)
  • Orpheus
  • De incendio urbis (probably a prose declamation about the city fire 64)
  • Adlocutio ad Pollam or ad uxorem (poem to his wife Polla, maybe part of the Silvae?)
  • Saturnalia
  • Silvae ( taken over as book title from Statius )
  • Medea (unfinished tragedy)
  • Salticae fabulae (texts for danced / pantomimic representations)
  • Epigrammata
  • A speech for and against Octavius ​​Sagitta (see Tacitus, Annalen 13, 44 on the year 58)
  • Epistolae ex Campania (letters from Campania)
  • A humiliating poem on Nero (see Suetonius , vita Lucani )
  • Fragments

reception

In the Roman Empire there was a dispute about whether Lukan should be considered a poet or a historian, because he renounced the traditional apparatus of gods that are traditionally used in the epic; Even his contemporary Titus Petronius gave the beginning of an ironic alternative poem in his Satyricon . In late antiquity and the Middle Ages , Lukan was considered one of the most important ancient poets, he was mentioned in the same breath as Virgil . In his Divine Comedy ( Inferno , IV 88-90) , Dante lists him alongside Homer and Virgil among the sages and poets of antiquity who enjoy a painless existence in a special area of Limbo .

Goethe knew Lukan, but did not particularly value him; after all, a figure invented by Lukan, the witch Erichtho, appears in the classic Walpurgis Night ( Faust II ). Holderlin translated the first book of the Pharsalia ; Lukan's path of freedom met with approval from young writers on various occasions. In the 18th and 19th centuries, however, Lukan's fame fell, as his language was often viewed as mere rhetoric and considered to be leaky.

The 20th century, not least in the horror of the two world wars, gradually rediscovered Lukan as a poet; Thus, in the latest research, Lukan's text is related to the literature on the air war ( Gert Ledig : retaliation ). Today, his daring imagery and metaphor are often seen as his real art and meaning. Although Lukan is now receiving a lot of attention in science, he has not been able to establish himself as a school author. Many educators consider it too difficult, and its style is not accessible to young readers. A school edition is therefore pending.

See also

Editions and translations

  • The Civil War or The Battle of Pharsalus. From the series: Library of Antiquity - Roman series; Translator from Latin: Dietrich Ebener . Epilogue: Dietrich Ebener. Structure: Berlin and Weimar 1978
  • De bello civili libri X. Edidit DR Shackleton Bailey . 2nd edition Teubner, Stuttgart 1997. - Current critical text edition.
  • Bellum civile. Civil war. Edited and translated by Wilhelm Ehlers . Heimeran, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-7765-2170-8 . - Most accurate German translation.
  • Civil War . Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Susan H. Braund. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1992, ISBN 0-19-814485-7 . - Also stylistically accurate translation.
  • De bello civili. Civil war. Latin / German. Translated and edited by Georg Luck . Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag, Stuttgart 2009 (= Reclams Universal Library. No. 18511), ISBN 978-3-15-018511-7 .

literature

Overview representations

Investigations

  • Annemarie Ambühl: War and civil war with Lucan and in Greek literature. Studies on the reception of Attic tragedy and Hellenistic poetry in the Bellum civile. De Gruyter, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-022207-4 (habilitation thesis)
  • Nadja Kimmerle: Lucan and the principal. Inconsistency and unreliable narration in the "Bellum Civile" (= Millennium Studies. Volume 53). De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-034970-2 (also dissertation, University of Tübingen 2013).
  • Werner Rutz (Ed.): Lucan (= ways of research. Volume 235). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1970 (good overview of the main questions and trends in research).
  • Werner Rutz: Lucan's 'Pharsalia' in the light of the latest research. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World . Series 2, Volume 32, Sub-Volume 3. 1985, pp. 1457-1537
  • Christine Walde (Ed.): Lucan in the 21st century. Saur, Munich / Leipzig 2005.

reception

  • Christine Walde: Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus). Bellum Civile. In: Christine Walde (Ed.): The reception of ancient literature. Kulturhistorisches Werklexikon (= Der Neue Pauly . Supplements. Volume 7). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2010, ISBN 978-3-476-02034-5 , Sp. 441-464.

Web links

Wikisource: Marcus Annaeus Lucanus  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Marcus Annaeus Lucanus  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Marcus Annaeus Lucanus  - Quotes

Remarks

  1. ^ Vita M. Annaei Lucani ex Vaccae qui dicitur commentario sublata. Text edition in: M. Annaeus Lucanus: Belli civilis libri decem. Tertium edidit Carolus Hosius (Bibliotheca Teubneriana). Teubner, Leipzig 1913, pp. 334-336, especially p. 336, lines 17-22.
  2. ^ Peter Leberecht Schmidt: Vacca. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/1, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01482-7 , Sp. 1075 ..
  3. ^ Fragments in: M. Annaeus Lucanus: Belli civilis libri decem. Tertium edidit Carolus Hosius (Bibliotheca Teubneriana). Teubner, Leipzig 1913, p. 329f.
  4. ^ Fragments in: M. Annaeus Lucanus: Belli civilis libri decem. Tertium edidit Carolus Hosius (Bibliotheca Teubneriana). Teubner, Leipzig 1913, p. 330.
  5. ^ Fragments in: M. Annaeus Lucanus: Belli civilis libri decem. Tertium edidit Carolus Hosius (Bibliotheca Teubneriana). Teubner, Leipzig 1913, p. 328f.
  6. ^ Fragments in: M. Annaeus Lucanus: Belli civilis libri decem. Tertium edidit Carolus Hosius (Bibliotheca Teubneriana). Teubner, Leipzig 1913, p. 330.
  7. ^ Fragments in: M. Annaeus Lucanus: Belli civilis libri decem. Tertium edidit Carolus Hosius (Bibliotheca Teubneriana). Teubner, Leipzig 1913, pp. 332f.
  8. ^ Fragments in: M. Annaeus Lucanus: Belli civilis libri decem. Tertium edidit Carolus Hosius (Bibliotheca Teubneriana). Teubner, Leipzig 1913, pp. 330f.
personal data
SURNAME Lucanus, Marcus Annaeus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lukan; Lucan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman poet and nephew of Seneca
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 39
PLACE OF BIRTH Cordoba, Spain
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 65
Place of death Rome