Book description
`The language is refined, the smile not grave,
My honest tongue recounts how men behave.'
The Satyricon is the most celebrated work of fiction to have survived from the ancient world. It can be described as the first realistic novel, the father of the picaresque genre, and recounts the…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Satyricon as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Who knew that the emperor Nero appointed an Advisor on Tastefulness, who also penned a bawdy and gritty novel about the adventures of several friends in the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD? Fairly few, and the even more surprising fact is that hundreds of pages of his text survive today. You can still read either in Latin or in English translation about two young men proposing to fight for the affections of the youth Giton and you can join them all in a visit to an archetypal Roman brothel. There is nothing else remaining that provides a…
From Andrew's list on sexual relationships in Greek and Roman antiquity.
This work is a game-changer for our perception of history, as well as being a riot to read. Assembled from discovered fragments, the work is a form of a satirical novel from late first-century Rome, narrated by a certain Encolpius in the house he shares with his handsome sixteen-year-old slave and boyfriend, Giton. What I love about this work is how modern it is: the language, the satire, the comedy, and decadence are relatable today, and are still outrageous and funny. This book blew away any disconnect I felt with ancient history, where all matters are reduced to serious narrative;…
From D.B.C.'s list on misfits and wretched excess.
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