Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-w79xw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-28T09:36:14.580Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

TACITUS ON THE DEATH OF OCTAVIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2008

PAUL MURGATROYD
PAUL MURGATROYD
Affiliation:
McMaster University, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Scholars so far have commented only briefly on Tacitus' depiction, at Annals 14.60–4, of the execution (in ad 62) of Nero's young wife Octavia, passing lightly over the pathos and criticism of Nero there as straightforward and self-evident. In fact, there is a subtle and skilful build-up of sympathy for Octavia and an extensive and powerful attack on the emperor and his court (and the servile senate), all the stronger for the pity aroused for her. This combination of emotional impact and damning indictment merits and repays deeper analysis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , October 2008 , pp. 263 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)