In a fragment of his Aratea (fr. 31 Soubiran ) Cicero describes Andromeda while, full of grief, shuns the sight of Cassiopeia, her mother (Andromeda aufugiens aspectum maesta parentis). The detail, both pictorial and pathetic, is without parallels either in Aratus or in the extant Latin translations of the Greek poem. I thus suppose that Cicero’s addition could have been in fluenced by the iconography of the two constellations attested by the earliest extant celestial globes, the only ones from classical antiquity still preserved in their entirety: the Kugel’s Globe (I st century entury BC ?), the Farnese Atlas (I st century BC ?), and the Mainz Globe (150-220 AD). In all these artifacts Andromeda is in fact depicted with her face turned away from her mother Cassiopeia. The paper also deal with schol. Arat. 353, p. 25 3 M., where it is said that Andromeda , frightened, refuses to look at the Sea-monster; finally I suggest a possible relationship between Cicero’s fragment and Lucr. 1,99 hostia concideret mactatu maesta parentis (Iphigenia’s sacrifice).
"Shunning her mother's sight". A note on Cicero, Aratea, fr. 31 Soubiran
PELLACANI, DANIELE
2014
Abstract
In a fragment of his Aratea (fr. 31 Soubiran ) Cicero describes Andromeda while, full of grief, shuns the sight of Cassiopeia, her mother (Andromeda aufugiens aspectum maesta parentis). The detail, both pictorial and pathetic, is without parallels either in Aratus or in the extant Latin translations of the Greek poem. I thus suppose that Cicero’s addition could have been in fluenced by the iconography of the two constellations attested by the earliest extant celestial globes, the only ones from classical antiquity still preserved in their entirety: the Kugel’s Globe (I st century entury BC ?), the Farnese Atlas (I st century BC ?), and the Mainz Globe (150-220 AD). In all these artifacts Andromeda is in fact depicted with her face turned away from her mother Cassiopeia. The paper also deal with schol. Arat. 353, p. 25 3 M., where it is said that Andromeda , frightened, refuses to look at the Sea-monster; finally I suggest a possible relationship between Cicero’s fragment and Lucr. 1,99 hostia concideret mactatu maesta parentis (Iphigenia’s sacrifice).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
