Horace's "Carmen Saeculare": Ritual Magic and the Poet`s Art
Michael C. J. Putnam
Abstract
This is the first book devoted to Horace's Carmen Saeculare, a poem commissioned by Roman emperor Augustus in 17 bce for choral performance at the Ludi Saeculares, the Secular Games. The poem is the first fully preserved Latin hymn whose circumstances of presentation are known, and it is the only lyric of Horace we can be certain was first presented orally. The book offers a close and sensitive reading of this hymn, shedding new light on the richness and virtuosity of its poetry, on the many sources Horace drew on, and on the poem's power and significance as a public ritual. A rich and compell ... More
Keywords: Augustus, choral performance, Secular Games, Latin hymn, public ritual, lyric poet, poetry, sources, Rome
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2001 | Print ISBN-13: 9780300083330 |
| Published to Yale Scholarship Online: October 2013 | DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300083330.001.0001 |
