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LATN 235 The Bacchanalian Affair 6 credits
In 186 BC stories of wild and debauched secret religious rites being celebrated under cover of night sparked panic in Rome, which led to a brutal state suppression of the cult. Was this a crackdown on impious behavior or political oppression? Over the course of the term we will translate three sources of evidence to determine what actually happened: the Roman historian Livy’s scintillating and outrageous account of this conspiracy; works by the Roman comedic playwright Plautus that might have shaped Livy’s storytelling; and the Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus, a detailed inscription found in southern Italy discussing the new laws Rome passed to suppress the cult.
Not offered in 2024-25