Pharsalia: aka The Civil War
()
About this ebook
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus was born on November 3rd, 39 AD in what is now modern day Cordoba in Spain. He is more commonly known in English as Lucan and regarded as one of the outstanding and most celebrated Roman Poets of the Imperial Latin period. In his youth he was admired for the speed at which he could compose his verse. Much of the facts of his life are unknown and the available accounts differ in agreed facts. Lucan was born into a wealthy family and the son of Marcus Annaeus Mela and grandson of Seneca the Elder. His early years were under the tutelage of his uncle Seneca the Younger. From him he was given a philosophical and Stoic education. It is also believed Lucan studied rhetoric in Athens. He found success under Nero and became one of the emperor's close friends and was rewarded with a quaestorship (a public official in Ancient Rome. It was a low ranking position in the cursus honorum) in advance of the required legal age. In 60 AD, he won a prize for extemporizing Orpheus and Laudes Neronis at the quinquennial Neronia, and was again rewarded when the emperor appointed him to the augurate (a body of religious officials who observed and interpreted omens and signs to help guide the making of public decisions). It was during these years that he composed the first three books of what is considered his masterpiece; Pharsalia (titled De Bello civili in the manuscripts), which told the story of the civil war between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Senate under Pompey. At this point the relationship between Nero and Lucan fell apart. There are two accounts which offer different viewpoints of what happened next. According to Tacitus, Nero became jealous of Lucan and forbade any further poems to be published. But according to Suetonius, Nero had lost interest in Lucan who responded by writing insulting poems about Nero that were ignored. However, works by the grammarian Vacca and the poet Statius give weight to the claim that Lucan did indeed write insulting poems about Nero. Vacca mentions that one of Lucan's works was entitled De Incendio Urbis (On the Burning of the City). Statius's ode to Lucan mentions that Lucan described how the "unspeakable flames of the criminal tyrant roamed the heights of Remus." Additionally, the later books of Pharsalia are anti-Imperial and pro-Republic. This criticism of both Nero and the office of the Emperor in verse seems a more likely trigger for the ban. Lucan later joined the 65 AD conspiracy of Gaius Calpurnius Piso against Nero. With his treason discovered, he was commanded, at age 25, to commit suicide by opening a vein. In the hopes of a pardon he incriminated his mother and others to no avail. According to Tacitus there is an idealized and romantic story that, as Lucan bled to death, "he recalled some poetry he had composed in which he had told the story of a wounded soldier dying a similar kind of death and he recited the very lines."
Related to Pharsalia
Related ebooks
The Lays of Ancient Rome (Epic Poetry Collection) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPharsalia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelphi Complete Works of Suetonius (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Delphi Complete Works of Lucan (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Works of Ovid. Illustrated: Metamorphoses, Amours, Heroides, To Art of Love, Love's Cure and others Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComplete Works of Apollonius of Rhodes (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCivil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Work and Days Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Civil Wars. Illustrated Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Simon Critchley's Tragedy, the Greeks, and Us Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProserpine and Midas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelphi Complete Works of Oppian (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelphi Complete Works of Arrian (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInterpreting Greek Tragedy: Myth, Poetry, Text Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Delphi Complete Works of Sophocles (Illustrated) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Delphi Complete Works of Cassius Dio (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6): Complete Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelphi Complete Works of Strabo - Geography (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Siege and Fall of Troy: For Young Readers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Neo-Hellene Poets: An Anthology of Modern Greek Poetry: 1750-2018 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghost of the Sun Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Temple of Glass Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Naval Battles of the Ancient Greek World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Anabasis of Alexander Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelphi Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe True History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCyropaedia: The Education of Cyrus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelphi Complete Works of Cato the Elder (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Poetry For You
Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twenty love poems and a song of despair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prophet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love Her Wild: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeaves of Grass: 1855 Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Thoughts: An Exploration Of Who We Are Beyond Our Minds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Way Forward Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Weary Blues Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (ReadOn Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pillow Thoughts II: Healing the Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Pharsalia
0 ratings0 reviews