Images in Satyricon: an essay on Ars Memoriae

Abstract

This  article  discusses  notions  of  memory  and  image  in  Greco-Roman  Antiquity.  I analyze these notions in selected texts related to what I understand as a history of art of ancient memory. Several texts could be the source of such a work, but I have chosen Phaedrus(Plato), De  Anima (Aristotle), De  oratore (Cicero), Ad Herennium (unknown  author) and Naturalis Historia (Pliny,  the  Elder). This is because these works help to  situate the use of ekphrastic resources in the Satyricon, the real focus of  my analysis. The Satyricon was attributed to Petronius, a courtier during the Neronian period, whom according to Tacitus (Ann. XVI, 18-19) was  the elegantiae arbiter of Nero’s court. In the Satyricon, I particularly look  at the Cena Trimalchionis (25-78), considering information regarding the  composition of Trimalchio’s portrait: his  status as a rich freed man, descriptions of his house and the monument in his house. Subsequently, I also look at the discussions on art between Encolpius and Eumolpus during the episode set in a pinacotheca (83-89), when I will establish parallels between the Satyricon and the Naturalis Historia. With this, I hope to bring forward convergences which reveal an agreement about what is art or the  value of art, and criticism regarding moral and artistic decline. I believe that an appropriate interpretation of the Satyricon requires the elaboration of a critical overview and a comprehensive study of ars memoriae in Antiquity, that being the main objective of this article.