RT Article
T1 Trimalchio's Last Will
JF Journal of historical network research
VO 3
SP 1
OP 29
A1 Köstner, Elena
LA English
PB Université du Luxembourg
YR 2019
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1785377256
AB During the cena Trimalchionis - maybe the most prominent stage of Petronius Satyrica - we come to know of different testamentary dispositions whereby the focus is set on Trimalchio as legatee, heir, and especially as testator. To analyze and visualize these different roles here, I used an approach derived from historical network research: the ego-alter-dyad enables a systematic analysis of interpersonal interactions which can be regarded as the basis of most Roman last wills. The testament in Rome, in the sense of a last will and testament, implied a unilateral disposal by which an heir was appointed, or a person intended by law to be an heir was excluded from inheritance. Apart from the legal context a testament was also regarded as ultimate as well as financial confirmation of amicitia and family ties. Using the approach derived from historical network research the ties connecting Trimalchio with his former patronus, friends, family members, and slaves are visualized in different graphs. It is the aim of this paper bringing both sources and graphs into dialog and interpret them together. By doing so, Trimalchio’s mimus which he performed when reading out his last will gets obvious. He did not reply any of his mutual friendship or family ties in his testament, but he makes his friends and family members believe he would do so. Thereby, Trimalchio offended against a societal norm which was of paramount importance in Roman society. In his cena Trimalchionis Petronius creates a bizarre mimus where the dramatis personae, especially Trimalchio, were shifting between authenticity and illusion, between seeming and being.
K1 Cena Trimalchionis
K1 Amicitia
K1 last will and testament
K1 testamentary gift exchange
DO 10.25517/jhnr.v3i1.53