Remembering Parthenope: The Reception of Classical Naples from Antiquity to the Present

Description

This edited collection focuses on how the ancient past of the city of Naples has been invented, shaped, transmitted, and received in literature, art, and material culture since the time of the city's foundation. Adopting a chronological approach, chapters examine important moments in Naples' reception history from the Roman period (when the city was already several centuries old) to the present day. Among the topics covered are representations of the city's early history and mythology in texts and temples of the Roman period; later uses of Roman spolia (marble sculptures and architectural elements) in Christian churches; the importance of antiquity to the rulers of the Angevin and Swabian periods; the appropriation of the city's classical heritage by Renaissance humanists; the image of the 'local' poets Virgil and Statius in later eras; humanist images of the ancient aqueducts and catacombs that ran beneath the city; representations of classical monuments in early modern city guides; images of ancient ruins in contemporary Catholic nativity scenes; and the archaeology and philosophy of the city's Metro system. Featuring contributions from an interdisciplinary range of scholars, this comprehensive volume provides a highly accessible point of entry into the vast bibliography on ancient Naples. Cover Remembering Parthenope: The Reception of Classical Naples from Antiquity to the Present Copyright Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures List of Contributors 1: Introduction: Entering the Siren’s City Organization of the Book Part I: Classical Naples in Antiquity 2: Setting the Agenda: The Image of Classical Naples in Strabo’s Geography and Other Ancient Literary Sources Origins Naples as 'Greek City' Morphology and Porosity Good for a Rest, Good for Philosophy 3: The Temple of the Dioscuri and the Mythic Origins of Neapolis 4: Colonizing the Past: Cultural Memory and Civic Identity in Hellenistic and Roman Naples Memory and Space: The Cultural Geography of Early Imperial Naples Language and Memory: Written and Spoken Greek Greek Institutions and Greek Games Hellenism and Naples: Cultural Memory or Cultural Appropriation? 5: Greek Magistrates in Roman Naples? Law and Memory from the Fourth Century bc to the Fourth Century AD History and Law in Neapolis-An Introduction to the Evidence Demarchs, Archons, Laukelarchs The Imperial Regime, Hellenism, and The Sebasta Games Conclusions 6: Between Classical and Modern Naples: ‘Cultural Forgetting’ at the Time of the Gothic War Part II: Classical Naples After Antiquity 7: Marmora Romana in Medieval Naples: Architectural Spolia from the Fourth to the Fifteenth Centuries AD The Reuse of Spolia in Neapolitan Architecture between The Fourth and Tenth Centuries The Recovery of Antiquity between the Medieval Period and the Renaissance 8: Virgiliana Neapolis Urbs: Receptions of Classical Naples in the Swabian and Early Angevin Ages Naples and the First State University The Return of Aristotle Poetica Facultas, Classical Rhetoric, and The Ars Dictaminis Florilegia and the Reception of Classical Texts The Two Faces of Virgil The Birth of a (Classical) Capital 9: Naples-A Poets´ City: Attitudes towards Statius and Virgil in the Fifteenth Century 10: Memories from the Subsoil: Discovering Antiquities in Fifteenth-Century Naples and Campania 11: City Branding and the Antique: Naples in Early Modern City Guides 12: Ex dirutis marmoribus: The Theatines and the Columns of the Temple of the Dioscuri in Naples The Choice of S. Paolo as the Theatine Church in Naples (1538) Rebuilding the Ancient Steps (1576) Epilogue: The Collapse of the Pronaos (1688) and The Afterlife of the Columns 13: Reshaping the Past, Shaping the Present: Andrea de Jorio and Naples’ Classical Heritage Conclusions 14: 'No Retreat, Even When Broken': Classical Ruins in the Presepe Napoletano A Brief History of Ruins in the Presepe Napoletano Meanings and Functions of Ruins in the Presepe Napoletano Afterwords 15: Neapolis and the Future of Naples´ Museums 16: Parthenope on the Metro: or, Links with the Past, on the Journey into the Future Bibliography Abbreviations References Index