The City, the Poet, and the Administration: A Comparison of Horace’s and Martial’s Image of Rome

Abstract

This article attempts to examine the city administration of ancient Rome through the lens of the literary output of two of Rome's great satirists. This effort stems from the desire to analyze the constantly changing ancient city of Rome not only through archaeological remains but also from the perspective of the social groups and individuals who lived there and experienced the city in various ways. Examining the representation of the city of Rome through the eyes of these two great Roman poets, undertaking a reading of ancient Rome through their references to urban landscapes, determining the constitutive power of urban reality on literary representation, and similarly, revealing the broad relationship between the urban environment and literary texts will enable a wider perspective on the ancient urban spaces and structures of the periods in which these poets lived. To this end, the study focuses on the literary production of the satirical poets Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 BC – 8 BC) and Marcus Valerius Martialis (AD 40 – c. 102?), who lived in different periods and depicted the Rome of their time. By examining the poetry of Horace and Martial through a comparative method that combines literary analysis with an urban history perspective, the study reveals how ideals of order and moderation in Roman city administration were intertwined with cosmopolitan and chaotic realities. Horace's distant image of Rome, which foregrounds order and moderation, and Martial's insider view, which portrays chaos, diversity, and cosmopolitanism, expose the tension between ideals and reality in the city administration of the ancient metropolis.

Keywords

• Horace
• City Administration
• Martial
• Urban Literature
• Urban Space

ŞEHİR, ŞAİR VE YÖNETİM: HORATİUS VE MARTİALİS’İN ROMA İMGESİ ÜZERİNE KARŞILAŞTRIMA

Abstract

Bu makale antik Roma'nın şehir yönetimine, Roma’nın iki büyük hicivcisinin edebi üretimlerinin yönleri aracılığıyla bakma çabasıdır. Bu çaba, durmadan değişen antik Roma şehrini yalnızca arkeolojik kalıntılar aracılığıyla değil, aynı zamanda orada yaşayan ve şehri farklı şekillerde deneyimleyen sosyal grupların ve bireylerin bakış açısıyla incelemeye çalışmaktan ileri gelmektedir. Bu iki büyük Roma şairinin gözünden Roma şehrinin temsilini incelemek, onların kentsel peyzajlara yaptığı göndermeler üzerinden bir antik Roma şehri okuması yapmak, kentsel gerçekliğin edebi temsil üzerindeki belirleyici gücünü tespit etmek, aynı şekilde kentsel çevre ile edebi metinlerin arasındaki geniş ilişkiyi ortaya koymak, bu şairlerin yaşadıkları dönemlerdeki antik kentsel mekân ve yapılara daha geniş bir perspektiften bakmayı sağlayacaktır. Bu amaçla çalışma ayrı dönemlerde yaşamış ve yaşadıkları Roma’yı tasvir etmiş hiciv şairleri olan Quintus Horatius Flaccus (M.Ö. 65- M.Ö. 8) ve Marcus Valerius Martialis (40-102?)’in edebi üretimlerine odaklanmaktadır. Horatius ve Martialis’in şiirlerini edebî analiz ile kentsel tarih perspektifini birleştiren karşılaştırmalı bir yöntemle inceleyerek, Roma’nın şehir yönetiminde düzen–ölçülülük idealleri ile kozmopolit ve kaotik gerçekliklerin iç içe geçtiğini ortaya koymaktadır. Horatius’un düzen ve ölçülülüğü öne çıkaran mesafeli Roma tasavvuru ile Martialis’in karmaşayı, çeşitliliği ve kozmopolitliği resmeden içerden bakışı, antik kentin şehir yönetiminde idealler ile gerçeklik arasındaki gerilimi gözler önüne sermektedir.

Keywords

• Horatius
• Kentsel Mekân
• Martialis
• Şehir Edebiyatı
• Şehir Yönetimi

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