NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Martial

Marcus Valerius Martialis, known in English as Martial, was a Latin poet from Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan. In these short, witty poems he cheerfully satirises city life and the scandalous activities of his acquaintances, and romanticises his provincial upbringing. Considered the creator of the modern epigram, Martial wrote a total of 1,561 - 1,235 of which are in elegiac couplets. Image File history File links Martialis. ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year (61st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events Roman Empire Caligula embarks on a campaign to conquer Britain, and fails miserably. ... Augusta Bilbilis was a city founded by the Romans in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. ... The tower of the Santa MarÃa church in mudÃ©jar style. ... For other uses, see number 102. ... Nickname: Motto: SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Government - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area - City 1,285 kmÂ² (580 sq mi) - Urban 5... For the album by the Kaiser Chiefs see Employment (album) Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... Fresco from Herculaneum, presumably showing a love couple. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Iberian Peninsula. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... An epigram is a short poem with a clever twist at the end or a concise and witty statement. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... Events Roman Empire Domitian introduces the Capitoline Games. ... For other uses, see number 103. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Titus Flavius Domitianus (24 October 51 â€“ 18 September 96), commonly known as Domitian, was a Roman Emperor of the gens Flavia. ... For other uses, see Nerva (disambiguation). ... This article is about the Roman Emperor. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... Elegiac refers either to those compositions that are like elegies or to a specific poetic meter used in Classical elegies. ... A couplet is a pair of lines of verse that form a unit. ...

Martial's Epigrams

Martial had a keen curiosity and power of observation, which shines through in his epigrams. The permanent literary interest of Martial's epigrams arises as much from their literary quality as from the colorful references to human life that they contain. Martial's epigrams bring to life the spectacle and brutality of daily life in imperial Rome, with which he was intimately connected.

From Martial, for example, we have a glimpse of living conditions in the city of Rome. The well-being or quality of life of a population is an important concern in economics and political science. ...

As Jo-Ann Shelton has written, "fire was a constant threat in ancient cities because wood was a common building material and people often used open fires and oil lamps. However, some people may have deliberately set fire to their property in order to collect insurance money."^[1] Martial makes this accusation in one of his epigrams: There was one person and one god known as Boreas in Greek mythology. ... Antique bronze oil lamp with Christian symbol (replica) An oil lamp is a device used for lighting or for preserving a flame that is fueled by animal, vegetable or mineral oil. ...

Martial also pours scorn on the doctors of his day: The sestertius was an ancient Roman coin. ...

Martial's epigrams also refer to the extreme cruelty shown to slaves in Roman society. Below, he chides a man named Rufus for flogging his cook for a minor mistake: An analogue medical thermometer showing the temperature of 38. ... Slavery as an institution in Mediterranean cultures of the ancient world comprised a mixture of debt-slavery, slavery as a punishment for crime, and the enslavement of prisoners of war. ... Whipping on a post Flagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum, whip) the human body. ...

Martial's epigrams are also characterized by their biting and often scathing sense of wit as well as for their lewdness; this has earned him a place in literary history as the original insult comic. Below is a sampling of his more insulting work: The word lust means sexual desire (this meaning is sometimes metaphorically extended to other forms of desire, e. ... An insult comedian is a comedian whose act consists mainly of offensive insults directed at the comedians audience and/or other performers. ...

Listed here is an interpretation of Martial's "Dr. Fell" epigram, which achieved notoriety in Thomas Harris’ novel Hannibal as the inspiration for the alias of Hannibal Lecter. Species See text. ... Species 6-7 living, see text. ... Rape of Proserpina, by Luca Giordano Persephona, 1873-1877, at Tate Gallery, London. ... In Roman times, Vestal Virgins were strictly celibate or they were punished by death. ... Womens panties or knickers Panties are undergarments. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Hannibal, a novel by Thomas Harris, is the source material for the film Hannibal, directed by Ridley Scott. ... Hannibal Lecter is a fictional character in a series of novels by author Thomas Harris. ...

Early life

Knowledge of his life is derived almost entirely from his works, which can be more or less dated according to the well-known events to which they refer. In Book X of his Epigrams, composed between 95 and 98, he mentions celebrating his fifty-seventh birthday; he was, in effect, born on March 1, 40 (x. 24), under Caligula or Claudius. His place of birth was Augusta Bilbilis (now Calatayud) in Hispania Tarraconensis. His parents, Fronto and Flaccilla, appear to have died in his youth. Centuries: 1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century Decades: 0s BC - 0s - 10s - 20s - 30s - 40s - 50s - 60s - 70s - 80s - 90s - 100s Years: 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 // Events Frontinus is appointed superintendent of the aqueducts (curator aquarum) in Rome. ... Events Roman emperor Nerva succeeded by Trajan Tacitus finished his Germania (approximate date) Births Deaths January 27: Nerva, Roman emperor Apollonius of Tyana, Greek/Roman philosopher and mathematician (b. ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year (61st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events Roman Empire Caligula embarks on a campaign to conquer Britain, and fails miserably. ... Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (August 31, 12 â€“ January 24, 41), more commonly known by his nickname Caligula, was the third Roman Emperor and a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 37 to 41. ... For other persons named Claudius, see Claudius (disambiguation). ... Augusta Bilbilis was a city founded by the Romans in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. ... The tower of the Santa MarÃa church in mudÃ©jar style. ... Roman Imperial province of Hispania Tarraconensis, 120 AD Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. ...

His name seems to imply that he was born a Roman citizen, but he speaks of himself as "sprung from the Celts and Iberians, and a countryman of the Tagus;" and, in contrasting his own masculine appearance with that of an effeminate Greek, he draws especial attention to "his stiff Hispanian hair" (x. 65, 7). A Celtic cross. ... Hispania was the name given by the Romans to the Iberian Peninsula, and to two of the three provinces they created there: Hispania Baetica and Hispania Tarraconensis (the third being Lusitania). ... View over Tejo River from Almourol Castle in Portugal (May 2005). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Iberian Peninsula. ...

His home was evidently one of rude comfort and plenty, sufficiently in the country to afford him the amusements of hunting and fishing, which he often recalls with keen pleasure, and sufficiently near the town to afford him the companionship of many comrades, the few survivors of whom he looks forward to meeting again after his thirty-four years' absence (x. 104). The memories of this old home, and of other spots, the rough names and local associations which he delights to introduce into his verse, attest the enjoyment that he had in his early life, and were among the influences which kept his spirit alive in the routine of social life in Rome. â€œHunterâ€ redirects here. ... Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish by hooking, trapping, or gathering. ...

He was educated in Hispania, a country which in the 1st century produced several notable Latin writers, including Seneca the Elder and Seneca the Younger, Lucan and Quintilian, and Martial's contemporaries Licinianus of Bilbilis, Decianus of Emerita and Canius of Gades. Martial professes to be of the school of Catullus, Pedo, and Marsus, and admits his inferiority only to the first. The epigram bears to this day the form impressed upon it by his unrivalled skill. The 1st century was that century which lasted from 1 to 100 according the Gregorian calendar. ... Lucius, or Marcus, Annaeus Seneca, known as Seneca the Elder and Seneca the Rhetorician (c. ... Bust, traditionally thought to be Seneca, now identified by some as Hesiod. ... Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (November 3, AD 39-April 30, 65), better known in English as Lucan, was a Roman poet, and is one of the outstanding figures of the Silver Latin period. ... Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (c. ... See Merida for the disambiguation page Mérida is the capital of the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. ... Fresco from Herculaneum, presumably showing a love couple. ...

Life in Rome

The success of his countrymen may have been what motivated Martial to move to Rome once he had completed his education. This move occurred in 64 CE, in which Seneca the Younger and Lucan may have served as his first patrons. Nickname: Motto: SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Government - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area - City 1,285 kmÂ² (580 sq mi) - Urban 5... July 18 - Great fire of Rome: A fire began to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burned completely out of control while Emperor Nero allegedly played his lyre and sang while watching the blaze from a safe distance, although there is no hard evidence to support this...

We do not know much of the details of his life for the first twenty years or so after he came to Rome. He published some juvenile poems of which he thought very little in his later years, and he laughs at a foolish bookseller who would not allow them to die a natural death (i. 113). Martial had neither youthful passion nor youthful enthusiasm to precociously make him a poet. His faculty ripened with experience and with the knowledge of that social life which was both his theme and his inspiration; many of his best epigrams are among those written in his last years. From many answers which he makes to the remonstrances of friends—among others to those of Quintilian—it may be inferred that he was urged to practice at the bar, but that he preferred his own lazy Bohemian kind of life. He made many influential friends and patrons, and secured the favor of both Titus and Domitian. From them he obtained various privileges, among others the semestris tribunatus, which conferred on him equestrian rank. Martial failed, however, in his application to Domitian for more substantial advantages, although he commemorates the glory of having been invited to dinner by him, and also the fact that he procured the privilege of citizenship for many persons in whose behalf he appealed to him. The term Bohemian was first used in the nineteenth century to describe the non-traditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities. ... For other uses, see Titus (disambiguation). ... Titus Flavius Domitianus (24 October 51 â€“ 18 September 96), commonly known as Domitian, was a Roman Emperor of the gens Flavia. ... An equestrian (Latin eques, plural equites - also known as a vir egregius, lit. ...

The earliest of his extant works, known as Liber spectaculorum, was first published at the opening of the Colosseum in the reign of Titus, and relates to the theatrical performances given by him; but the book as it now stands was given to the world in or about the first year of Domitian, i.e. about the year 81. The favour of the emperor procured him the countenance of some of the worst creatures at the imperial court—among them of the notorious Crispinus, and probably of Paris, the supposed author of Juvenal's exile, for whose monument Martial afterwards wrote a eulogistic epitaph. The two books, numbered by editors xiii. and xiv., and known by the names of Xenia and Apophoreta—inscriptions in two lines each for presents,—were published at the Saturnalia of 84. In 86 he gave to the world the first two of the twelve books on which his reputation rests. The Colosseum by night: exterior view of the best-preserved section. ... Centuries: 1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century Decades: 0s BC - 0s - 10s - 20s - 30s - 40s - 50s - 60s - 70s - 80s - 90s - 100s Years: 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 Events Domitian succeeds his brother Titus Flavius as emperor of the Roman Empire. ... Woodcut of Juvenal from the Nuremberg Chronicle Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, Anglicized as Juvenal, was a Roman satiric poet of the late 1st century and early 2nd century. ... Saturnalia is the feast at which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the god Saturn, which took place on 17 December. ... Centuries: 1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century Decades: 0s BC - 0s - 10s - 20s - 30s - 40s - 50s - 60s - 70s - 80s - 90s - 100s Years: 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 Events Possible date of Battle of Mons Graupius (83 or 84) Pliny the Younger was sevir... Events Roman Empire Domitian introduces the Capitoline Games. ...

From that time till his return to Hispania in 98 he published a volume almost every year. The first nine books and the first edition of Book X. appeared in the reign of Domitian; Book XI. appeared at the end of 96, shortly after the accession of Nerva. A revised edition of book X., that which we now possess, appeared in 98, about the time of the entrance of Trajan into Rome. The last book was written after three years' absence in Hispania, shortly before his death, which happened about the year 102 or 103. Events Roman emperor Nerva succeeded by Trajan Tacitus finished his Germania (approximate date) Births Deaths January 27: Nerva, Roman emperor Apollonius of Tyana, Greek/Roman philosopher and mathematician (b. ... For other uses, see number 96. ... For other uses, see Nerva (disambiguation). ... Events Roman emperor Nerva succeeded by Trajan Tacitus finished his Germania (approximate date) Births Deaths January 27: Nerva, Roman emperor Apollonius of Tyana, Greek/Roman philosopher and mathematician (b. ... This article is about the Roman Emperor. ... For other uses, see number 102. ... For other uses, see number 103. ...

These twelve books bring Martial's ordinary mode of life between the age of forty-five and sixty very fully before us. His regular home for thirty-five years was Rome. He lived at first up three pairs of stairs, and his "garret" overlooked the laurels in front of the portico of Agrippa. He had a small villa and unproductive farm near Nomentum, in the Sabine territory, to which he occasionally retired from the bores and noises of the city (ii. 38, xii. 57). In his later years he had also a small house on the Quirinal, near the temple of Quirinus. Agrippa may refer to: Menenius Agrippa, a Roman consul in 503 BC. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (63â€“12 BC), Roman statesman and general, friend of Augustus Caesar. ... Nomentum (mod. ... The Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna The tribe of the Sabines (Latin Sabini - singular Sabinus) was an Italic tribe of ancient Italy. ... Bore may refer to: A wave in a river caused by an incoming tide - see tidal bore The diameter of a pipe or tube, or the caliber of a gun The diameter of a cylinder and piston in a piston engine (See also: Stroke) A person who is boring The... An etching of the Hill, crowned by the mass of the Palazzo del Quirinale, from a series I Sette Colli di Roma antica e moderna published in 1827 by Luigi Rossini (1790 - 1857): his view, from the roof of the palazzo near the Trevi Fountain that now houes the Accademia... In Roman mythology, Quirinus was an early god of the Roman state. ...

At the time when his third book was brought out he had retired for a short time to Cisalpine Gaul, in weariness, as he tells us, of his unprofitable attendance to the bigwigs of Rome. For a time he seems to have felt the charm of the new scenes which he visited, and in a later book (iv. 25) he contemplates the prospect of retiring to the neighbourhood of Aquileia and the Timavus. But the spell exercised over him by Rome and Roman society was too great; even the epigrams sent from Forum Corneli and the Aemilian Way ring much more of the Roman forum, and of the streets, baths, porticos and clubs of Rome, than of the places from which they are dated. Cisalpine Gaul (Latin: Gallia Cisalpina, meaning Gaul this side of the Alps) was a province of the Roman Republic, in Emilia and Lombardy of modern-day northern Italy. ... Aquileia (Friulian Aquilee, Slovene Oglej) is an ancient Roman town of Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. ... Via Aemilia (It. ...

His final departure from Rome was motivated by a weariness of the burdens imposed on him by his social position, and apparently the difficulties of meeting the ordinary expenses of living in the metropolis (x. 96); and he looks forward to a return to the scenes familiar to his youth. The well-known epigram addressed to Juvenal (xii. I 8) shows that for a time his ideal was realized; but the more trustworthy evidence of the prose epistle prefixed to Book XII. proves and that he could not live happily away from the literary and social pleasures of Rome for long. The one consolation of his exile was a lady, Marcella, of whom he writes rather as if she were his patroness—and it seems to have been a necessity of his being to have always a patron or patroness—than his wife or mistress.

During his life at Rome, although he never rose to a position of real independence, and had always a hard struggle with poverty, he seems to have known everybody, especially every one of any eminence at the bar or in literature. In addition to Lucan and Quintilian, he numbered among his friends or more intimate acquaintances Silius Italicus, Juvenal, the younger Pliny; and there were many others of high position whose society and patronage he enjoyed. The silence which he and Statius, although authors writing at the same time, having common friends and treating often of the same subjects, maintain in regard to one another may be explained by mutual dislike or want of sympathy. Martial in many places shows an undisguised contempt for the artificial kind of epic on which Statius's reputation chiefly rests; and it seems quite natural that the respectable author of the Thebaid and the Silvae should feel little admiration for either the life or the works of the bohemian epigrammatist. Silius Italicus, in full Titus Catius Silius Italicus (AD 25 or 26 - 101), was a Latin epic poet. ... Woodcut of Juvenal from the Nuremberg Chronicle Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, Anglicized as Juvenal, was a Roman satiric poet of the late 1st century and early 2nd century. ... Gayus Plinius Colonoscopy Caecilius Secundus (63 - ca. ... Publius Papinius Statius, (c. ...

Martial and his patrons

Martial was dependent on his wealthy friends and patrons for gifts of money, for his dinner, and even for his dress, but the relation of client to patron had been recognized as an honourable one by the best Roman traditions. No blame had attached to Virgil or Horace on account of the favours which they received from Augustus and Maecenas, or of the return which they made for these favours in their verse. That old honourable relationship, however, greatly changed between Augustus and Domitian. Men of good birth and education, and sometimes even of high official position (Juv. i. 117), accepted the dole (sportula). Martial was merely following a general fashion in paying his court to "a lord," and he made the best of the custom. In his earlier career he used to accompany his patrons to their villas at Baiae or Tibur, and to attend their morning levees. Later on, he went to his own small country house, near Nomentum, and sent a poem, or a small volume of his poems, as his representative at the early visit. Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC â€“ September 21, 19 BC), later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a classical Roman poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the substantially completed Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became... Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. ... The famous statue of Octavian at the Prima Porta Caesar Augustus (Latin:IMPÂ·CAESARÂ·DIVIÂ·FÂ·AVGVSTVS) Â¹ (23 September 63 BCâ€“19 August AD 14), known to modern historians as Octavian for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, is considered the first and one of the most... Baiae (Italian: Baia), in the Campania region of Italy on the Bay of Naples, today a frazione of the comune of Bacoli, was for several hundred years a fashionable and luxurious coastal resort, especially towards the end of the period of the Roman Republic. ... Tivoli, the classical Tibur, is an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 km from Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river, where it issues from the Sabine hills. ...

Martial's character

Pliny the Younger, in the short tribute which he pays to him on hearing of his death, wrote, "He had as much good-nature as wit and pungency in his writings" (Ep. iii. 21). Martial professes to avoid personalities in his satire, and honour and sincerity (fides and simplicitas) seem to have been the qualities which he most admires in his friends. Some have found distasteful his apparent servile flattery to the worst of the many bad emperors of Rome in the 1st century. These were emperors Martial would later censure immediately after their death (xii. 6). However, he seems to have disliked hypocrisy in its many forms, and seems to be free from cant, pedantry, or affectation of any kind. Gayus Plinius Colonoscopy Caecilius Secundus (63 - ca. ... The 1st century was that century which lasted from 1 to 100 according the Gregorian calendar. ... Hypocrisy is the act of condemning another person, where the stated basis for the criticism is the breach of a rule which also applies to the critic. ... The word cant can mean more than one thing: Cant is insincere speech, similar to hypocrisy. ... For the medical term see rigor (medicine) Rigour (American English: rigor) has a number of meanings in relation to intellectual life and discourse. ...

Martial, women, boys, and sexuality

Though many of his epigrams indicate a cynical disbelief in the character of women, yet others prove that he could respect and almost revere a refined and courteous lady. His own life in Rome afforded him no experience of domestic virtue; but his epigrams show that, even in the age which is known to modern readers chiefly from the Satires of Juvenal, virtue was recognized as the purest source of happiness. The tenderest element in Martial's nature seems, however, to have been his affection for children and for his dependents. Woodcut of Juvenal from the Nuremberg Chronicle Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, Anglicized as Juvenal, was a Roman satiric poet of the late 1st century and early 2nd century. ...

His sexual outlook is consistent with that of his place and time. Thus, same-sex love is a recurrent topic. Many of his epigrams are of a pederastic nature, which, coupled with his often misogynistic tone, has given more than one reader the impression that he looked with favor upon sexual relations with boys.^[2] Though Romans often took a more materialistic approach to sex with males than did the Greeks, Martial, in Epigram XI.43, praises the ancient pederastic gods and heroes. Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ... The term pederasty or paederasty embraces a wide range of erotic practices between adult and adolescents, generally between males. ... Misogyny (IPA: ) is hatred or strong prejudice against women. ...

Notes

External links

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ...

Works

Contents

Martial's Epigrams

Early life

Life in Rome

Martial and his patrons

Martial's character

Martial, women, boys, and sexuality

Notes

External links

Works

Other links

References

Contents

Martial's Epigrams var ACE_AR = {Site: '756743', Size: '300250'};

Early life

Life in Rome

Martial and his patrons

Martial's character

Martial, women, boys, and sexuality

Notes

External links

Works

Other links

References

Martial's Epigrams