Satyricon

[Kosmo]

I liked very much this book, is the best roman novel, and the first ancient text I've read as a child. It was funny to read that book whitout my parents minding as they were convinced about the qualities of classical culture . To bad some parts were in latin and the words were not in the dictionary. Some of the stuff in the book really amazed me as no similar information was available to me then.

 

I've heard that someone had filled the annoying missing gaps. It's any good this version?

 

Are there any other roman novels?

[Primus Pilus]

Are there any other roman novels?

 

There are a few that are considered novels...

 

Apuleius - Metamorphoses (or the Golden Ass). It's my understanding that this is the only complete Latin novel to have survived.

 

Apollonius of Tyre wrote the novel Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri based seemingly on an earlier Greek work.

 

Of course, it's hard to discount such epics as Virgil's Aeneid or Ovid's Metamorphoses. They are hardly novels, but one might stretch the criteria a bit to include poetic fiction based upon both mythology and history. One might even read some of the other satirists... Ennius, Varro, Horace, Juvenal etc. Personally I like Seneca's Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii, or the Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius.

 

There are several Greek novels by writers such as Xenophon of Ephesus - Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes, Heliodorus of Emesa - The Aethiopica, Chariton - The Loves of Chaereas and Callirhoe, Longus - Daphnis and Chloe, Achilles Tatius - Leucippe and Clitophon. I have not read any of these personally.

[DecimusCaesar]

Didn't Fellini (I think) make a film adaption of this story back in the late 1960's? I heard that it followed the text so closely that even the missing parts were entered into the film by having the characters stop in mid conversation. If anyone has seen the film, is it really a faithful adaption to the novel?

[Ludovicus]

Didn't Fellini (I think) make a film adaption of this story back in the late 1960's? I heard that it followed the text so closely that even the missing parts were entered into the film by having the characters stop in mid conversation. If anyone has seen the film, is it really a faithful adaption to the novel?

 

 

You can find a trailer of Fellini's film here, in Italian.

 

http://www.mymovies.it/dizionario/trailer.asp?id=8950

[Andrew Dalby]

I've heard that someone had filled the annoying missing gaps. It's any good this version?

 

Several people have tried. In fact I made a list of various attempts to "fill the gaps" in an article I wrote on Wikipedia headed Supplements to the Satyricon. I have to admit that I wrote this partly so as to draw attention (with proper modesty ...) to my own Satyricon supplement, which appeared a couple of years ago in the magazine Gastronomica from California University Press. I imagined Encolpius and his friends and rivals, twenty years after, getting together for dinner in Massilia, from where he originally set out. There are one or two twists in the tail (or tale).

 

Our local emperors Pertinax and Augustus Caesar have both asked me if there's an online version. There isn't, as yet (except at the U. Cal. Pr. website, where you have to pay for it). But I do have a few copies left ...

 

If anyone looks at that Wikipedia article, and knows of any other extended Satyricon versions that ought to be added, please add the information, or mention it here. But to answer Kosmo's other question: no, none of them are any good! No one yet can match up to Petronius's own work.

[Nephele]

I have to admit that I wrote this partly so as to draw attention (with proper modesty ...) to my own Satyricon supplement, which appeared a couple of years ago in the magazine Gastronomica from California University Press. I imagined Encolpius and his friends and rivals, twenty years after, getting together for dinner in Massilia, from where he originally set out. There are one or two twists in the tail (or tale).

 

A.D., the link to Gastronomica in your Wikipedia article doesn't appear to be working.

 

-- Nephele

[Andrew Dalby]

I have to admit that I wrote this partly so as to draw attention (with proper modesty ...) to my own Satyricon supplement, which appeared a couple of years ago in the magazine Gastronomica from California University Press. I imagined Encolpius and his friends and rivals, twenty years after, getting together for dinner in Massilia, from where he originally set out. There are one or two twists in the tail (or tale).

 

A.D., the link to Gastronomica in your Wikipedia article doesn't appear to be working.

 

-- Nephele

 

Yes, I just noticed that. U.C. Press appear to have sold the url "gastronomica.com". Hope they got a good price for it ... You may find that the link works again now, but it doesn't get you very far. If you'd like a copy of the story, Nephele, send me a pm with your address and I'll mail you one!

[Nephele]

Yes, I just noticed that. U.C. Press appear to have sold the url "gastronomica.com". Hope they got a good price for it ... You may find that the link works again now, but it doesn't get you very far. If you'd like a copy of the story, Nephele, send me a pm with your address and I'll mail you one!

 

Gratias tibi ago!

 

-- Nephele

[Kosmo]

AD you did not filled the gaps, you made a sequel "Satyricon Reloaded"

I guess Trimalchio's banquet drawn your attention.

Indeed beside being fun this novel it's also a mine of precious informations in many areas including gastronomy.

[Andrew Dalby]

AD you did not filled the gaps, you made a sequel "Satyricon Reloaded"

I guess Trimalchio's banquet drawn your attention.

Indeed beside being fun this novel it's also a mine of precious informations in many areas including gastronomy.

 

You're exactly right, Kosmo. The banquet fascinated me, I wanted to work out explanations for some of the strange details, and finally I decided that an amusing way to do it would be to write an epilogue.

[Ludovicus]

How important is Satyricon for the study of spoken Latin at the time of the work's publication?

[Andrew Dalby]

How important is Satyricon for the study of spoken Latin at the time of the work's publication?

Very important, in my view. Petronius was a true stylist -- and the Satyricon isn't pure gritty realism, it's a well-constructed and well-written story -- but he seems to have wanted to characterise people by speech and mannerisms in a way that hardly any other ancient writer does. So the conversation at Trimalchio's dinner gives you plenty of ideas about how people of different backgrounds really spoke.

[Skarr]

For those who like Satyricon, you must see Fellini's film, if you haven't already (Italian with sub titles).

 

It is quite surreal, especially the banquet scene !!! The Rome in Fellini's version is quite unlike anything you might see in one of the more familiar Hollywood epics and a lot of people are turned off because it is not what they expected to see of "Rome".

 

However, for people who inhabit this Forum, I'm sure they will view the film with a less "prejudiced" eye, as Fellini has a unique vision of the city and its inhabitants. There is an overall decadence which is subtle, yet pervasive as the viewer is drawn into a world that is totally different, yet understandable, as Fellini pulls no punches in portraying human behavior and presents this in a raw, shocking but at the same very realistic fashion.

 

I would highly recommend that you see the film more than once to pick up on all the nuances.