Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity
From Adultery To Incest: Messalina And Agrippina As Sexual Aggressors In Tacitus’ Annals, Vassiliki Panoussi
From Adultery To Incest: Messalina And Agrippina As Sexual Aggressors In Tacitus’ Annals, Vassiliki Panoussi
Arts & Sciences Book Chapters
This chapter continues the investigation of rhetorical maneuvers clustering around social and amorous hierarchies in the fraught sphere of sexual agency by studying the trope of the sexually aggressive older female preying on a younger man in Tacitus’ Annals. On the basis of a detailed examination of the portrayal of Messalina and Agrippina, it argues that it is precisely the recognizable rhetoricity and artificiality in the deployment of this trope, here dramatized through rich intertextual echoes and connections (notably Vergil’s Aeneid and Euripides’ Bacchae), which narratively undercuts any unambiguous condemnation of female superiority over male inferiority, disrupts any …