Saturday, January 4, 2020

A Marble Hermaphroditus: Martial, Epigr. XIV.174

TRIGGER WARNING: The intersex mythological figure Hermaphroditus was portrayed frequently as a curiosity in ancient Roman art.

Masculus intravit fontis: emersit utrumque:
pars est una patris, cetera matris habet.

--Martial, Epigr. XIV.174

He entered the spring, but they emerged from it.
Their body has one part of a man's; the rest is a woman's.

MARTIAL
MAP:
Name: Marcus Valerius Martialis
Date:  40 CE – 104 CE
Works:  Epigrammaton Libri XV*
               De Spectaculis

REGION  2 (Hispania)
Region 1: Peninsular Italy; Region 2: Western Europe; Region 3: Western Coast of Africa; Region 4: Egypt and Eastern Mediterranean; Region 5: Greece and the Balkans


BIO:
Timeline:
Originally from Bilbilis, Hispania, the poet Martial moved to Rome in the 60s CE to advance his career. His two extant works include de Spectaculis, a collection of poems written to commemorate the opening of the Colosseum, and a fifteen volume collection of epigrams. These epigrams provide valuable insight into the mores and private lives of men and women from all of the city’s social classes.     
 SILVER AGE ROME
Early Roman Lit: through 2nd c BCE: Republican Rome: through 1st c. BCE; Golden Age: 70 BCE to 18 CE; Silver Age: 18 CE to 150 CE; Age of Conflict: 150 CE - 410 CE; Byzantine: after 410 CE