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• Lucius Brutus of Rome and Cypselus of Corinth

  27–44.

  Ádám Rung

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  15

  The story of Lucius Brutus, the founder of the Roman Republic has often been analysed as a historical story, somewhat mythicised, and embellished by literary tropes; and some have also interpreted it as primarily a myth, historicised by a later Roman culture more interested in the exemplary than in the marvelous. Starting out in the latter tradition, this article explores a connection that has been hinted at from antiquity, and has been analysed from the historical and historiographic perspective to some extent, but has not been interpreted in detail as a connection between two myths: the numerous parallels that the story of Brutus and the Tarquins, as told by Virgil, Livy and Ovid, has to the saga of the aristocratic Bacchiad and the tyrannical Cypselid families of early Corinth, as told by Herodotus and Aristotle. The newly discovered parallels (and the re-examination of the known ones) between these stories also invite the reader to reflect on the ways they might have evolved, their political and cultural functionality and on the complex interplay between myth and history.

• Quirinius’ Sacrifice (Silius Italicus: Punica 4,192–215)

  57–75.

  Dániel Kozák

  Views:

  2

  Contrary to historical accounts, Silius inserts a preliminary encounter into his account of the Battle of Ticinus in the Punica in which, prior to facing Hannibal’s army, the Romans fight against the Gauls led by the Boian Crixus (4,143–310). Among Crixus’ victims, we found three soldiers whose names recall early kings of Rome: Tullus, Remulus, and Quirinius. After a brief overview of the significance of these names, the paper focuses on the character of Quirinius (4,192–215). I interpret this episode through three approaches. 1) Quirinius’ death recalls, by inversion, the miraculous survival of L. Sergius Silus (Plin. Nat. 7,104–106), 2) his plan to kill Crixus evokes the ritual of seizing and offering of the spolia opima, while 3) his being certain of impending death makes his case reminiscent of the devotio. Quirinius’ self-sacrifice thus can be seen as contributing to the Elder Scipio’s victory over Crixus, and is also paralleled by how the general’s life will be saved through external help (coming from the gods and his son) in the second half of the battle.