Citation

Glendinning E. Int. Class. Trad. 2013; 20(1-2): 61-82.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s12138-013-0322-y

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the rape and suicide of the archetypal Roman matron Lucretia and the representation and appropriation of her story in literature from Augustan Rome, Late Antiquity and the medieval period. Rape and suicide have always been highly evocative, topical and controversial actions for scrutinising the relationship between gender and history, and it is no accident that Rome's first high-profile victim was later drawn upon by writers from 2,000 years of European history to explore issues such as appropriate (and inappropriate) female behaviour, sexuality, guilt, redemption, and the ethics of voluntary death. This article offers a diachronic perspective on the long afterlife of a single Roman myth and the potency of that myth as a privileged and effective point of reference for exploring femininity, rape and suicide in European history. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide; Rape; Chaucer; Livy; Ovid; St Augustine