Petronius - A Handbook

Petronius' Satyrica must rank as among the most notorious literary works of ancient Rome, and its raunchiness and debauchery surely play a major part in the construction of the popular image of Rome. Here leading scholars from different disciplines show how the text can be mined for insights into Roman culture and the various ways in which it can be interpreted. After an introductory section asking in effect what it is?, literary approaches look at how the satyrica relates to the Greek and Roman literary worlds and the language employed by Petronius. Socio-cultural approaches look at gender, at contemporary Neronian society, and at the depiction of freedmen. Other essays look at the satyrica as a source for economic history, for Roman funerary traditions and for domestic space and decoration. Finally two essays look at reception - its influence on the English novel, and Fellini's film version.