Event Title
Power and Presages: Livia and Tanaquil as Readers of Omens
Presentation Type
Oral and/or Visual Presentation
Presenter Major(s)
Classics
Mentor Information
Barbara Flaschenriem
Department
Classics
Location
Kirkhof Center 2201
Start Date
11-4-2012 3:00 PM
Keywords
Gender, Historical Perspectives, Philosophy/ Literature, Religion
Abstract
In Suetonius' Life of Galba (1.1), an eagle gives the future empress Livia a hen with a laurel sprig in its beak. Instead of seeking priests for guidance and explanation (as would have been expected), Livia reads this event as an omen that predicts her husband Octavian will become emperor. Livia also realizes its magnitude, for she raises the hen and plants the sprig. While Murison (1992) suggests that Suetonius is uninterested in reading the omen as presaging the Julio-Claudian dynasty's rise to power, such a claim is untenable. Suetonius casts Livia as holding religious power and influencing politics, for she recognizes, interprets, and acts upon the omen that foretells her family's rise to power. Moreover, I argue that Suetonius alludes to Livy's History of Rome (1.34), wherein Tanaquil interprets an eagle omen as predicting her husband's reign as king. Suetonius thus puts Livia--as Livy does Tanaquil--in the "male" and priestly role as an interpreter of the divine.
Power and Presages: Livia and Tanaquil as Readers of Omens
Kirkhof Center 2201
In Suetonius' Life of Galba (1.1), an eagle gives the future empress Livia a hen with a laurel sprig in its beak. Instead of seeking priests for guidance and explanation (as would have been expected), Livia reads this event as an omen that predicts her husband Octavian will become emperor. Livia also realizes its magnitude, for she raises the hen and plants the sprig. While Murison (1992) suggests that Suetonius is uninterested in reading the omen as presaging the Julio-Claudian dynasty's rise to power, such a claim is untenable. Suetonius casts Livia as holding religious power and influencing politics, for she recognizes, interprets, and acts upon the omen that foretells her family's rise to power. Moreover, I argue that Suetonius alludes to Livy's History of Rome (1.34), wherein Tanaquil interprets an eagle omen as predicting her husband's reign as king. Suetonius thus puts Livia--as Livy does Tanaquil--in the "male" and priestly role as an interpreter of the divine.