By Torches, Bones, and Temples
Material Metonyms in Personal Oaths in Latin Literature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54797/tfl.v53i2-3.16657Nyckelord:
eder, ed, latinsk litteratur, Antikens Rom, romersk litteratur, materialitet, agency, swearing, edsformel, materiellt språk, fysiskt språk, objektifierande formuleringar, latin, poesiAbstract
By Torches, Bones, and Temples: Material Metonyms in Personal Oaths in Latin Literature
Oath-taking during Roman Antiquity constitutes a telling example of how words and matter interplay and relate to one another. Ancient Latin literature provides a myriad of representations of oaths sworn, both fictive and supposedly historical, where matter somehow figure in the procedure. In this study, a selection of personal oaths from Roman literature are explored in terms of materiality and agency. All chosen oath examples are portrayed as sworn by something material employed as conceptual metonyms using the stylistic literary features concretum pro abstracto (“the concrete for the abstract”) and pars pro toto (“the part for the whole”). The present article aims to demonstrate that Roman authors’ choice of swearing/having their characters swear by matter has the ability to steer the audience’s interpretation of the oath portrayed, and produce agency within that context, thus increasing the power and efficacy of the oath.
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Referenser
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