Papers by Patrick Glauthier
Making Time for Greek and Roman Literature, ed. K. Guilhuly and J.P. Ulrich, 2024
This paper establishes the relevant philosophical background for understanding and interpreting t... more This paper establishes the relevant philosophical background for understanding and interpreting the cessation of time in Proto-Gospel of James 18. I argue that the cessation of time needs to be read against a tradition that identifies time with the movement of the heavens and/or celestial sphere and that when time stops, it signifies a change in cosmic epochs. In addition, I argue that the author conspicuously marks the phenomenon as sublime. Collectively, the suspension of time and the history of the sublime provide a framework that allows the well-educated reader of Greek to grasp the significance of Jesus’ birth. This interpretive framework, however, does not explain the text’s seemingly unparalleled narrative strategies whereby Joseph seems both to be out-of-time and in-time. I suggest that this tension can best be explained by reading the passage against contemporary ekphrases of art objects, such as the opening ekphrasis from Leucippe and Clitophon, rather than the usual biblical comparanda. PJ’s familiarity with Jewish and Christian texts and traditions has received considerable attention, but its relationship to other aspects of the ancient world have attracted far less scrutiny – my arguments expand our understanding of the scope and nature of the work’s intellectual context and cultural horizons.
The Cambridge Companion to the Romantic Sublime, ed. Cian Duffy, 2023
This chapter traces the use of the sublime in ancient Greek and Latin literature from Homer throu... more This chapter traces the use of the sublime in ancient Greek and Latin literature from Homer through Augustine. Starting from the basic premise that the study of the classical sublime cannot be restricted to a reading of Longinus, it demonstrates that the sublime was a recognizable phenomenon, an ethical stance, a marker of ideology and value, and a topic of debate from at least the fifth century BCE. Ancient writers make sublime spectacles out of practically anything, from the starry sky to the gemstone, from monumental architecture to architectural ruins. Numerous texts imbue human subjects, such as mythological figures and natural philosophers, with a greatness of soul that electrifies readers with the thrill of the sublime, and when such figures falter or collapse, their fall from greatness is equally spectacular. The chapter concludes with a sample of texts that reject or problematize the value of the sublime or that police its use.
Teaching Through Images: Imagery in Greco-Roman Didactic Poetry, ed. J. Strauss Clay and A. Vergados, 2022
This paper compares the Milky Way in Aratus (Ph. 469–79) and Manilius (1.684–804), focusing on th... more This paper compares the Milky Way in Aratus (Ph. 469–79) and Manilius (1.684–804), focusing on the role of the sublime in both texts. In Aratus, to gaze at the Milky Way is a sublime experience that constitutes an image for reading the Phaenomena. In addition, the sublimity of the Milky Way transports us to a time when the heavens were not fully understood. To wonder at the Milky Way is a transcendent, spiritual experience that pushes us to study the heavens. Manilius responds to Aratus in ways that have gone unnoticed. The Milky Way fills viewers with sublime wonder and physically compels contemplation of the stars and the divine. Because of its physical power, however, the Milky Way symbolizes the principles and mechanisms of astrology and the sublimity of the astrological poet. Manilius also reminds the reader of an earlier era in the history of stargazing, but this experience plunges us into sublime terror, offering a darker view of the past than Aratus. Manilius’ narrative contains an additional self-referential image. According to some, Phaethon’s fiery chariot ride produced the Milky Way. For Manilius, though, Phaethon is an exuberant stargazer whose daring adventure symbolizes an approach to the heavens that is properly and polemically sublime.
Arethusa, 2021
I argue for a reframing of the narrative of metempsychosis in the proem of the Annals: Ennius did... more I argue for a reframing of the narrative of metempsychosis in the proem of the Annals: Ennius did not claim to be Homer reborn but rather that he possessed the soul that used to be belong to Homer. This shift in perspective has ideological implications for Rome's relationship to the Greek world. In addition, I argue that Ennius' character, not Homer, is likely to have claimed to have been a peacock in a previous life.
Ennius' Annals: Poetry and History, ed. C. Damon and J. Farrell, 2020
This paper argues that hybrid and otherwise multiple or excessive bodies are central to the creat... more This paper argues that hybrid and otherwise multiple or excessive bodies are central to the creation of Ennius’ persona in the Annals. My discussion focuses on three significant figures: the peacock in Book 1, Discordia in Book 7, and the poet’s failing body in Book 16. I argue that Ennius conspicuously associates himself with both Discordia and the peacock. These figures symbolize generic hybridity and stylistic multiplicity or poikilia, aspects of the Annals that later writers tend to suppress. The emphasis on the poet’s physical deterioration in Book 16 forms an important contrast: as Ennius’ body dissolves, his soul prepares to find a new home in the literary bodies of subsequent writers. We should read all of this Ennian multiplicity from a cultural perspective: to be Roman is always to be already a hybrid. Ennius embraces this reality at key moments in the Annals, which forces a reconsideration of the overall tone of the poem and the broader trajectory of Roman epic.
Classical Quarterly, 2020
This paper argues that Aristaeus' story in Georgics 4 offers an aetiology for didactic poetry its... more This paper argues that Aristaeus' story in Georgics 4 offers an aetiology for didactic poetry itself. I begin by demonstrating that Cyrene and Proteus play the role of didactic poets and that Aristaeus functions as the addressee of their didactic songs. I then suggest that the aetiological nature of the episode allows us to read the interactions of all three characters as a dramatic staging of the origins of didactic poetry. Through Cyrene, we trace the beginning of didactic back to Hesiod’s Works and Days, while Proteus stands in the tradition of Hesiod’s Theogony. Finally, I consider what this reading implies about the relative competency of these two traditions and Virgil’s place within them. In particular, I argue that the notorious discrepancies between Egyptian bugonia and Cyrene’s lesson suggest historical rupture, which undermines trust in both didactic and the promise of renewal that bugonia seems to offer. Virgil, however, positions himself as the telos of the didactic tradition, the sole individual able to transcend these difficulties. If the reader chooses to believe his account of bugonia, in spite of all the hurdles, she too might be able to regain what she has lost, just like Aristaeus.
Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2019
In the context of Latin literature, inconsistency is most often invoked to mean self-contradictio... more In the context of Latin literature, inconsistency is most often invoked to mean self-contradiction: for example, in the second Georgic, Virgil declares that Italy is blissfully free from snakes, but in the following book, snakes pose a deadly threat to the Italian farmer and his animals. Inconsistency, however, can also describe general ambiguity, lack of unity, factual inaccuracy, and incoherence of almost any kind. A number of historically contingent factors affect how readers recognize and respond to inconsistencies. Ancient criticism of the Homeric poems and the Aeneid often considered inconsistencies flaws, and this tradition has influenced modern thinking about the topic. From the late 20th century onwards, critics have frequently viewed the creation of inconsistency as a deliberate authorial strategy: the reader is exposed to two different realities, and the resulting tension contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. The apparent receptivity of Roman literary culture to inconsistency may imply a worldview that had more in common with quantum mechanics than an Aristotelian universe dominated by the law of non-contradiction.
Classical Philology, 2018
This paper argues that the author of PV is familiar with classical theories of volcanism. Prometh... more This paper argues that the author of PV is familiar with classical theories of volcanism. Prometheus’ Etna narrative subtly employs the categories of such theory, and the play’s finale redeploys that language, revealing that the work ends with a volcanic eruption. More broadly, I demonstrate that PV offers an exciting case study for examining the relationship between scientific and other forms of discourse in antiquity. The Etna narrative combines mythological and scientific thinking to critique Pindar’s Etna, and the play’s conclusion reinvents volcanic catastrophe as an image for stasis. Science, mythology, literary polemics, and political theory collaborate in surprising ways.
American Journal of Philology, 2017
This article argues that the structure of Astronomica 1 is based on Aratus’ Phaenomena and the La... more This article argues that the structure of Astronomica 1 is based on Aratus’ Phaenomena and the Latin Aratea. Manilius’ text, of course, addresses numerous topics unknown to the Aratean tradition and promotes an astrological worldview foreign to Aratus. By enthusiastically incorporating non-Aratean material into his Aratean book and repurposing the framework and language of the Aratean tradition, Manilius composes a “Hyper-Aratea” that implicitly critiques the value and outlook of figures like Aratus, Cicero, and Virgil. This maneuver contributes to Manilius’ self-representation as a literary Phaethon who sets fire to the Aratean heavens, and reveals the contention surrounding Aratus at Rome.
Forgotten Stars: Rediscovering Manilius' Astronomica, 2011
This paper examines Manilius' programmatic use of two economic metaphors, that of cosmic wealth (... more This paper examines Manilius' programmatic use of two economic metaphors, that of cosmic wealth (census) and that of celestial commerce (commercium). These images offer complementary but also competing intellectual frameworks for understanding the nature of the universe and what it means to engage in the study of the stars.
This dissertation examines the relationship between scientific inquiry and hexameter poetry at Ro... more This dissertation examines the relationship between scientific inquiry and hexameter poetry at Rome in the first century CE. It focuses on three poetic texts: Manilius' Astronomica, Lucan's Civil War, and the anonymous Aetna. It argues that despite generic and thematic differences, these works participate in a common dialogue and therefore can benefit from being read side by side. In particular, the dissertation demonstrates that all three authors reflect on the ability of poetry to communicate scientific knowledge, and that they simultaneously question or undermine the practical value of that knowledge. As a result,
Classical Antiquity, 2009
The following article investigates how Phaedrus’ Latin verse fables engage standard Callimachean ... more The following article investigates how Phaedrus’ Latin verse fables engage standard Callimachean topoi. When Phaedrus imitates the Hymn to Apollo he fails to banish Envy and when he adopts Callimachus’ own polemical allusions to Aesop he turns them upside down. Such texts are essentially Callimachean in spirit and technique and constitute a recusatio: by “mishandling” or “abusing” and thus “rejecting” various Callimachean topoi and the role of the “successful” Callimachean poet, the fabulist demonstrates his skill and versatility within the Callimachean tradition. This sort of recusatio satirizes those poets who unimaginatively rehash Callimachean staples and represents a strategy that gains momentum in the first century ad. It thereby provides a literary context for understanding Phaedrus’ engagement with the evolving traditions of Roman Callimacheanism.
Drafts by Patrick Glauthier
This paper establishes the relevant philosophical background for understanding and interpreting t... more This paper establishes the relevant philosophical background for understanding and interpreting the cessation of time in Proto-Gospel of James 18. I argue that the cessation of time needs to be read against a tradition that identifies time with the movement of the heavens and/or celestial sphere and that when time stops, it signifies a change in cosmic epochs. In addition, I argue that the author conspicuously marks the phenomenon as sublime and that the narrative dramatizes the psychological experience of Christian revelation and belief. Collectively, the suspension of time and the history of the sublime provide a framework that allows the well-educated reader of Greek to grasp the significance of Jesus’ birth, and Joseph’s first-person narration invites that reader to share his feeling of transcendence.
This paper compares the Milky Way in Aratus (Ph. 469–79) and Manilius (1.684–804), focusing on th... more This paper compares the Milky Way in Aratus (Ph. 469–79) and Manilius (1.684–804), focusing on the role of the sublime in both texts. In Aratus, to gaze at the Milky Way is a sublime experience that constitutes an image for reading the Phaenomena. In addition, the sublimity of the Milky Way transports us to a time when the heavens were not fully understood. To wonder at the Milky Way is a transcendent, spiritual experience that pushes us to study the heavens. Manilius responds to Aratus in ways that have gone unnoticed. The Milky Way fills viewers with sublime wonder and physically compels contemplation of the stars and the divine. Because of its physical power, however, the Milky Way symbolizes the principles and mechanisms of astrology and the sublimity of the astrological poet. Manilius also reminds the reader of an earlier era in the history of stargazing, but this experience plunges us into sublime terror, offering a darker view of the past than Aratus. Manilius’ narrative contains an additional self-referential image. According to some, Phaethon’s fiery chariot ride produced the Milky Way. For Manilius, though, Phaethon is an exuberant stargazer whose daring adventure symbolizes an approach to the heavens that is properly and polemically sublime.
Book Reviews by Patrick Glauthier
New England Classical Journal, 2020
Flechner is well aware of the limitations his work entails: he says that his "alternative narrati... more Flechner is well aware of the limitations his work entails: he says that his "alternative narrative cannot, admittedly, be corroborated, and it is clear that there is more to the story than we have been able to recover" (58).
The Classical Review, 2014
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Papers by Patrick Glauthier
Drafts by Patrick Glauthier
Book Reviews by Patrick Glauthier