Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-r7xzm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T15:16:07.665Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 1 - Horatius Cocles

Commemorating and Imitating a Great Deed

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2018

Matthew B. Roller
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University
Get access

Summary

The Introduction opens with an example of a Roman exemplum – Polybius’ narrative of Horatius Cocles defending the bridge – and proceeds to offer a general model of Roman exemplarity as a notional sequence of four operations: action, evaluation, commemoration, and norm-setting. Exempla play critical roles in three dimensions of Roman culture: they are central to Roman argumentation and persuasion, hence can affect how Romans actually behave; they are central to Roman moral discourse, hence to the establishment, reproduction, and modification of social values; and they presuppose a particular relationship between present and past, and so constitute a kind of historical consciousness. These cultural dimensions are central to the work that examples do in Roman culture, and all are pertinent, in varying degrees, to each of the case studies presented in the chapters to follow. The introduction also includes discussion of the various fields of scholarly inquiry upon which this study impinges.
Type
Chapter
Information
Models from the Past in Roman Culture
A World of Exempla
, pp. 32 - 65
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Horatius Cocles
  • Matthew B. Roller, The Johns Hopkins University
  • Book: Models from the Past in Roman Culture
  • Online publication: 21 March 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316677353.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Horatius Cocles
  • Matthew B. Roller, The Johns Hopkins University
  • Book: Models from the Past in Roman Culture
  • Online publication: 21 March 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316677353.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Horatius Cocles
  • Matthew B. Roller, The Johns Hopkins University
  • Book: Models from the Past in Roman Culture
  • Online publication: 21 March 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316677353.002
Available formats
×