'Giving Up the Ghost in Ancient Roman Literature A Comparative Discussion of the Ghosts in selected texts from Plautus, Virgil, Ovid, and Pliny the Younger

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Through an intensive comparative discussion of selected texts from Plautus, Virgil, Ovid, andPliny the Younger, this thesis aims to bring forward insights into the ancient Romanunderstanding of death and the dead. The chosen works (Plautus' Mostellaria, Books II and IIIof Virgil's Aeneid, Books II and V of Ovid's Fasti, and Letter 7.27 from Pliny's Epistles) eachfeature a manifestation of the dead, or 'ghost. The introductory chapter establishes thedefinitions and approaches used in this thesis, the criteria for the selection of texts, and therationale for my topic. The second chapter is a brief presentation of the existing scholarship ondeath in the Roman world. This includes a brief discussion of the Roman beliefs and ritesconcerning death, the concept of ghosts in the Roman culture, and a contextualization andsummary of the selected texts. The third chapter compares and contrasts the selected worksaccording to the Latin terminology used, the ways in which the featured ghosts arecharacterized in their approaches and interactions with the living, and the extent to which theoverarching theme of Tragic Death and its supporting motif, Laying the Ghost to Rest, arepresent in these works. The insights into Roman thought about death and the dead that arefound in this research are highlighted in the concluding chapter's summary and reflection.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University