Poem 63
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spazzmo_child on May 7, 2012
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34 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Sparagmos | The ritual dismemberment of a live animal |
| Epyllion | Short epics about unconventional aspects of myth - digressions and complex narrative, about defining emotional moments in life - elevated style - forms a sort of hymn to Cybele though an unconventional one |
| Galliambics | The metre invented by Catullus for this poem, named after the Galli, who were the castrated followers of the goddess - a quick an frenzied metre - latin is a slow language, the metre deliberately goes against the norm for effect |
| 250BC | The cult of Cybele was imported into Rome whilst they were fighting Carthage and the war was not going very well - an oracle said to bring the statue of her to Rome from Turkey and they would win the war - after this they did win the war and the cult of Cybele was assimilated into Roman culture - still stigmatized as not very Roman |
| The cult in Rome | - only non-roman citizens were allowed to participate in the original rites - romans celebrated the goddess in their own organised way, with chariot races and games - the traditional rites included processions, all night vigils, frenzies and castration |
| 2 original stories | 1) Attis was a shepherd loved by Cybele and accused of adultery with a nymph, so castrates himself to prove his fidelity to her 2) Attis is a Phrygian eunuch worshipper of the goddess who drives away a lion with his drum |
| Subversion of the Myth | - Catullus shows Attis to be a Greek, someone who has abandoned civilization to join this cult - not already castrated and regrets after he has done so - Attis does not chase away the lion but runs away from it |
| Reccurent Themes | abandoning home, frenzy/speed/hurry, madness, gender fluctuations, religious curiosity and worship, the forest vs. city, dark vs. light, helpful vs. harmful gods |
| "Like an untamed heifer" | Catullus is acting irresponsibly and won't do his duty, no one cares about the heifer but about the owner - runaway slave from roman view, wild beast not even human anymore |
| Lights comes | and drives away dark and madness, bringing new clarity and rationality, so that Attis may regret what he has done |
| Ceres | Is the good roman god of grain, for grain you need flat plains to grow food, they ignore this advice and go deep into the forest |
| Shoreline | is a marginal space between madness and civilsation |
| Lines 4, 31, 34 | Frenzy and hurry |
| Lines 44, 46-49 | Clarity and steadiness, a wavering mind - clear contrast in speed of metre for effect |
| Line 62 | Loss of concrete identity what has he not been? reflects on the life he had which he abandoned for barbarity - he was an attractive male youth "glory of the gymnasium", not quite a man - he will never now make this transition - abandonment of his duty |
| "band of exiles" | they can no longer go back to their former life, they have abandoned exactly what it means to be part of the civilised world - exile was seen as one of the worst fates, not being able to live where you were born, loss of rights family e.t.c - ties to rational family sphere, what afford a man his masculine status, role as head of the family - voluntary exiles which are very unusual |
| Skinner (1993) | Curious bisexuality of the poetic voice - pome 51 adopts the desiring gaze like Sappho and applies her well known physical sensations to himself |
| Skinner | Mythic heroines often illustrate his own state of mind |
| Wiseman | Attis is often seen as a symbol for Catullus, his love affair on a mythic scale |
| Skinner | ancient gender indentities more fluid than the modern day, something that is earnt and has to be constantly re-asserted - constant effort to maintain, any loss of physical vigor caused effeminacy - make adolescants were legitimate sexual objects for older males, only ex/slaves as later status forbid - masculinity could easily be called in to questions by ones enemies - was linked with the idea of being able to perform your duties as the responsible head of the household |
| Foucault | Roman sexual relations were patterns of dominance and submission behaviour that replicated social superiority/inferiority |
| Skinner | Masculinity always at risk, especially in the hands of a sexually experienced female |
| The Greeks | saw adolescence as a liminal stage characterised by sexual ambiguity and a transition fraught with potential mistakes - the transition to adult masculinity was difficult |
| Quinn | Sees as a study of a youth who could not make the transition into manhood - offers rationale of actions, explains why they castrate themselves purpose of Catullus' myth - has been a "beautiful boy" juxtaposition glory of past with present circumstances - fascination with own desirability often seen in effeminate youths - desperate attempts to keep hold of his past identity loses his grip on the future and slips in anonymity and slavery - loss of personal identity, concern with the personal/social consequences of such an act |
| Johnson | a safe glimpse of impulses - explores the role of dependancy that is closed to roman males - plays on the real fears felt by contemporary audience - absolute finality of the transformation aptly captures the importance of masculine status in the removal of its most obvious symbol |
| Gender roles - Konstan | it was often seen that women were less controlled than their male counterparts, who operated in to relam of absolute rationality |
| Cybele's forest | - represents the struggle to gain masculine status in the chaotic and sinister setting |
| Cybele | Represents the danger an insatiable female sexual appetite might pose to her lovers status - she could be seen as the personification of lust and vice that draws an individual away from the right path - Attis gives into these desires, which is seen as irrational and childish and he loses his grip on the adult male world - becoming emasculated |
| Analogy | Cybele's dominance of her amle consorts brings to mind a number of poems in which Catullus presents himself as a slave to his love for Lesbia - as a victim of her unquenchable sexual appetite |
| Political implications - Skinner | reflects elite despair over decreasing autonomy and inability for meaningful public action - great historical change, exposing all the civil war - well educated like Catullus expected for success at home but marginalised by the political situation |
| Johnson | The ordinary/trivial is felt exquisity, intensely personal poetry, moving away from general mythic topics - Catullus concerned with the shift in identity cause by certain experiences, a new sense of self - concentration on the individual psyche in a bored generation |
| Harrison | Attis can be a female name, chosen of the exotic "Atys" - Attinus was a woman addressed by Sappho and can also mean "woman of Attica" - showing him to be from Greece provides for the clash between eastern and western culture, the idea of abandoning civilisation - religious journey traditionally from east to west - opposite |
| Harrison | A very roman view of the cult, standing back and observing the effects |
| Harrison | Like in Euripedes Bacchae two speeches of Agave, first triumphant killed a lion and second lament realised she has killed her own son - also Medea who laments leaving home and is not accepted in corinth because of her barbarity - catatrope of severed parts and a "love-maddened heart" - Medea is portrayed as active and masculine like a hoemric hero, Attis weak and disempowered |
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