Salvatore P. Sutera, Ph.D. is the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University.  In addition to being an active member of the Italian Club, Dr. Sutera is a dedicated Francophile.  He spent a year as a Fulbright Fellow in Paris and a semester as a visiting professor at the University of Paris.  He is President of the St. Louis-Lyon Sister Cities organization.

 April 17
Cocktails 6:30 PM - Dinner 7:00 PM
Da Baldo's Restaurant
RSVP 
 

   Funeral rites were extremely important to the ancient Romans for several reasons.  First and foremost, family life revolved around the cult of the father’s ancestors, whose souls were revered as household gods.  A proper burial would guarantee peace to the deceased as well as the surviving relatives (otherwise the ghost would come back to haunt the living).  For this reason, even the bodies of people condemned to death were returned to their families for proper burial. 

   Having a tomb, no matter how modest, was a matter of great concern to the ancient Romans.  There is historical evidence, for example, that some people chose their spouses according to their burial arrangements.  Also the location of the grave was extremely important:  the rich and famous of ancient Rome bought plots along the main roads leading to the city so that all travelers could see their impressive tombs and read their achievements engraved on them.  Less well-to-do (such as slaves or freedmen) were sometimes buried in other people’s plots, or they bought a space in a columbarium (a “dovecote”), a communal tomb that contained niches in which funerary urns were located.

   The Latin word for tomb, monumentum, means “memorial”, a testimonial of a person’s achievements.  Although, very often, funerary inscriptions follow typical formulas (such as “ to the soul of...”, “well-deserving”, “may the earth be light to you”), sometimes they are more personalized and allow us a rare glimpse into the life of our ancestors.  This is especially true of women and of those who lived in the provinces, where sometimes other historical sources are missing.  Epitaphs give us a precious insight into the elusive lives of women, slaves, children, freedmen, and all the other people who were not deemed important enough to be mentioned in the official writings of Roman historians.

   According to modern standards, one could not consider ancient Roman women as being “liberated”.  They were nevertheless among the most emancipated women of antiquity since they could own property, inherit wealth, own slaves and run businesses.  The work of a Roman matrona was endless:  she was supposed to supervise the entire household (which sometimes included many slaves), she was responsible for the upbringing and education of her children, she was the force behind her husband’s and her children’s success, making and unmaking political and financial alliances.  The Roman wife was truly the backbone not only of her family, but of the entire Roman society, and as such she is often celebrated in funerary writings.

   The epitaph of Claudia (from Rome, CIL 6.1007) is a beautiful example of all the qualities for which a Roman wife wanted to be remembered.  She was beautiful, fertile, chaste, loved her husband, had a pleasant conversation and a charming gait.  She kept house and spun wool, a typical activity of traditional Roman women. 
Allia Potestas (CIL 6. 37965), also known as the Perusina (the lady from Perugia), is praised in a long poem, dedicated to her by her master.  Allia, a freedwoman, is lauded for being brave, tenacious, pure, and a most faithful guardian of the household.  Her total dedication to her home and children is her most important characteristic, followed by a quite detailed and, for us, amusing description of her physical charms, such as her smooth, well-depilated limbs, snow-white small breasts, and (alas!) rough hands.  There is no mention of her husband, but probably as a freedwoman she was the common-law wife of her master. 

   The funerary inscription of Aurelia Philematium, now in the British Museum, presents a woman born and reared into slavery, who married her husband perhaps when she was only seven years old (prepuberal marriages were not unheard of in ancient Rome).  She worked hard and contributed greatly to the success of her husband thanks to her industry.  In a world where the lives of slaves were subjected to the whim of their masters, marriage brought much dignity and stability, and contributed to the slaves’ morale.

   Epitaphs of slave women are sometimes very modest, but nonetheless extremely significant.  A round tombstone (quite a rare find), now kept in the Museo Archeologico of Florence, is dedicated to “Agrippina’s hairdresser” by her fellow-slave Hermes, probably her companion.  This unnamed woman died at 22.  What kind of life did she have?  One passage comes to mind, from Ovid’s Ars Amatoria, in which the poet describes the cruel treatment of hairdressers:  their mistresses scratched their faces with their nails or stabbed them with pins.  Another extremely simple gravestone mentions Heracla, “Caesar’s wrestler” (Verona, Museo Maffeiano).  Who was Heracla?  A slave forced to perform for the enjoyment of the crowd or perhaps a very muscular and strong-willed woman who wanted to prove her combative skills?

   Whether they were named Claudia or Allia, Heracla or Helena, Aurelia or Lucifera; whether they were slaves or freeborn, or had acquired their freedom after years of hard and loyal service to their masters, ancient Roman women still speak to us through their epitaphs.  Sit eis terra levis (may the earth be light to them)!

   Anna di Palma Amelung was born in Russi, near Ravenna.  She attended the Università di Bologna, where she received the Laurea in foreign languages.  She taught French at the Università di Bologna and at the nearby Università di Modena for a several years, then went to Toulouse (France) where she taught Italian language and literature at a local high school and at the Società Dante Alighieri.  After coming to St. Louis, she obtained a Ph.D. in French from Washington University, where she also taught French and Italian for six years. Now a teacher of French and Latin at University City High School, Dr. Amelung shares her knowledge and love for the ancient world with the youth of America.  She enjoys researching a variety of topics related to the Classics and is also an amateur in the study of malachology (the science dealing with the study of mollusks) and fossils, especially the invertebrate fossils commonly found in Missouri.

44.  Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (Alessandria d’Egitto 1876 – Bellagio 1944) è considerato il fondatore del movimento futurista di cui pubblicò il Manifesto sul quotidiano parigino Figaro nel 1909, spiegandone le basi ideologiche.  I futuristi esaltano la distruzione delle forme sintattiche e delle regole di punteggiatura mentre celebrano la modernità, l’assenza di regole e la completa libertà del linguaggio.  “All’automobile da corsa” fa parte della raccolta La ville charnelle (1908) originariamente scritta in francese dal Marinetti e poi tradotta in italiano da lui stesso.  L’automobile viene descritta ricorrendo a onomatopee e alterazioni linguistiche (ebbrrra, frrremi). 
 

Veemente dio d’una razza d’acciaio,
Automobile ebbrrra di spazio,
che scalpiti e frrremi d’angoscia
rodendo il morso con striduli denti…
Formidabile mostro giapponese,
dagli occhi di fucina,
nutrito di fiamma
e d’olî minerali,
avido d’orizzonti e di prede siderali…
io scateno il tuo cuore che tonfa diabolicamente,
scateno i tuoi giganteschi pneumatici,
per la danza che tu sai danzare
via per le bianche strade di tutto il mondo!…      (vv.1-13)

33.  Caracalla (188 - 217)  (Imperatore 211 - 217).  Il suo nome era Lucio Settimo Bassanio ma a sette anni il padre lo designò come suo successore e gli diede il nome di Marco Aurelio Antonino per stabilire una connessione con gli imperatori Antonini.  Tuttavia il nome con cui sarà ricordato nella storia sarà Caracalla, dal mantello militare gallico che egli soleva portare.  A 14 anni sposò Fulvia Plautilla, figlia del pretore Plautiano, ma Caracalla non amò mai la moglie.  Il matrimonio non produsse figli e finì circa tre anni più tardi, dopo l’uccisione del suocero che era stato accusato di tradimento. 

Tra Caracalla e il fratello Geta non erano mai corsi buoni rapporti.  Il padre Settimio Severo aveva cercato di attuire i loro dissensi portandoli con sè nella sua prima spedizione in Britannia, ma riuscì soltanto ad ottenere una tregua.  Dopo la morte del padre nel febbraio 211, essi tornarono a Roma dove divisero il potere imperiale per qualche mese vivendo in alloggi separati sul Palatino, ognuno protetto contro l’altro dai propri soldati e guardie del corpo.  Ma nel dicembre dello stesso anno Caracalla fece uccidere Geta.  Al delitto seguì una strage che durò circa due settimane durante la quale furono uccisi circa 20,000 pretoriani seguaci del fratello. 

Il 212 è l’anno della riforma chiamata Constitutio Antoniniana che accordò la cittadinanza romana a tutti i sudditi liberi dell' impero.  Questo è anche l’anno in cui cominciò la costruzione delle Terme, completate durante l’impero di Alessandro Severo.  Le Terme di Caracalla sono uno dei più grandiosi e meglio conservati esempi di terme imperiali.  Più volte restaurate, rimasero in funzione fino al 537, quando il re goto Vitige fece distruggere gli acquedotti che alimentavano Roma. 

Dopo il 213 Caracalla lasciò Roma.  Prima andò in Gallia e poi nella Rezia per combattere contro un nuovo nemico, gli Allemanni.  Dalla Rezia si recò in oriente per combattere contro i Parti e durante il viaggio fu preso da una grande ammirazione per Alessandro Magno con il quale cominciò a identificarsi, a imitare e a cercare di emulare.  Nell'autunno del 215 andò ad Alessandria di Egitto ma gli abitanti lo accolsero con dimostrazioni ostili, a cui Caracalla rispose massacrando migliaia di abitanti.  Dopo la strage Alessandria fu divisa in due quartieri per mezzo di un muro per impedire le comunicazioni.

Nel 216 Caracalla ritornò ad Antiochia e mosse guerra ai Parti per punire Artabano V che gli aveva rifiutata la mano della figlia.  Dopo aver distrutto la città di Arbela nella Media, ritornò in Mesopotamia con l’intenzione di passare l’inverno a Edessa.

Ma a Edessa fu ordita una congiura contro di lui.   Capo del complotto fu Opellio Macrino, prefetto del pretorio, e l’esecutore ne fu Marziale, un membro della guardia imperiale.  Caracalla venne ucciso nell'aprile del 217, mentre viaggiava verso Carre per fare un sacrificio al dio Luno.  Marziale fuggì ma venne inseguito e ucciso a sua volta. 

La madre Giulia Domna, che si trovava ad Antiochia, dopo aver appresa la notizia dell'uccisione del figlio si lasciò morire di fame.