Wars More Than Civil: Memories of Pompey and Caesar in the Octavia

Abstract

As the Octavia replays a moment in Rome’s recent history—the struggle to see which Caesar would outlast the rest—its characters simultaneously replay a crucial struggle from the Julio-Claudians’ rise to power: the civil war between Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar. The Octavia ’s allusive language recasts its Neronian characters as the Republic’s leading generals, turning strife within the imperial family into a civil war that threatens to engulf the Roman world once more. The play thus challenges the predominant cultural memories of peace fostered by the Julio-Claudian dynasty and promotes instead a counter-memory rooted in civil strife.

Double Act: Reperforming History in the Octavia

“…44 As Rokem (2007) 6 points out, historical drama is understandably more ghostlike than plays that deal with fictional characters and events. 45 In addition to Bassi's nuanced analysis, Blau (1982/3) and Rayner (2006) 47 Further discussion of this significant intertext can be found in Ginsberg (2013). 48 Mazzoli (2000) examines the interlinked themes of light, darkness and ghosts in the Octavia.…”