Abstract: The so-called vetula-Skoptik, the satire against old women, is a well attested manifestation of the epigrammatic poetry since the very early witnesses of this literary genre. This kind of invective tends to be generally directed against the physical and moral vileness of some stereotypical female figures, who are, often violently, degraded for their repelling appearance and/or their questionable activities. In this paper two specimina of this literary sub-genre from the ninth book of Martial’s Epigrammaton libri will be taken into consideration: namely Mart. 9, 29 and Mart. 9, 37. The Latin epigrammatist spares no cutting remarks against the two addressees of the poems: the first, Philaenis, is mourned in a satirical laudatio funebris for her dubious activity as procuress and mage; the second, Galla, generates disgust in the poet for her excessive use of maquillage and her lustful conduct, behaviors regarded as inappropriate for an old woman.
Dall’Aprile 2017 è dottorando presso il dipartimento di Filologia Classica della Bergische Universität di Wuppertal, dove, sotto la supervisione dei proff. Stefan Freund e Nina Mindt, porta avanti un progetto di ricerca intitolato “Gräzismen in den Epigrammen des Martial. Zur Bilingualität in Literatur und Alltagssprache”.
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