Papers by Raphael Schwitter
Erfinden - Erschaffen - Erdichten. Konzepte und Inszenierungen von 'Ersten ErfinderInnen' in der antiken Literatur und ihrer Rezeption, hrsg. von M. Baumbach, Darmstadt 2023, pp. 389-414
T. L Meurer, V. Egetenmeyr (eds.), Gallia docta? Education and In-/Exclusion in Late Antique Gaul, Tübingen, pp. 69-90 - , 2023
This paper explores the intrinsic link between school practices and certain poetic forms that flo... more This paper explores the intrinsic link between school practices and certain poetic forms that flourished in the literary landscape of late antique Gaul. Although the interaction between teaching, reading and writing texts has always been recognized, modern philologists are reluctant to acknowledge the influence of schools on literary culture. However, evidence of poetic activity in Greek and Roman schools illustrates the institution’s literary pursuits and its ambition in teaching the craft of poetry. Based on a critical examination of the available sources from Gaul (with glances at Italy and North Africa), it is argued that, apart from the traditional grander genres of epic and panegyric, a considerable amount of Latin poetry of this period, both pagan and Christian, can be linked to the educational system, mirroring its practice in the themes and schemes employed. This overlap of schooling, rhetorical training and literary culture not only enabled processes of social inclusion, but also facilitated the internal coherence of educational communities in Gaul and throughout the later Roman world.
Von der Antike begeistert! Philologie, Philosophie, Religion und Politik durch drei Jahrhunderte. FS für Ch. Riedweg, 2023
In seiner Kurzdarstellung der Dionysos-Mysterien in Protrepticus 2.12.2. bringt der christliche P... more In seiner Kurzdarstellung der Dionysos-Mysterien in Protrepticus 2.12.2. bringt der christliche Philosoph Klemens von Alexandrien mithilfe einer etymologischen Assoziation zwischen der Urmutter Eva und dem bakchischen Jubelruf «εὐάν» den Dionysos-Kult mit dem biblischen Sündenfall in Verbindung. Der Beitrag geht den diskursiven und traditionsgeschichtlichen Zusammenhängen dieses bemerkenswerten etymologischen Konstrukts nach und versucht, klärendes Licht auf die gewundenen Traditionswege zu werfen, die diese Herleitung zur christlichen Apologetik geführt haben.
Neulateinisches Jahrbuch, 2021
At the beginning of Paris, BnF, Ms. lat. 3669, a partial copy of the Corpus Clunia- cense, one fi... more At the beginning of Paris, BnF, Ms. lat. 3669, a partial copy of the Corpus Clunia- cense, one finds an elegiac poem in which the provost of Lausanne, Martin Le France (1408–1461), sends the Qur’ n to the depths of hell. Along with the admonitory writings of the Cluniacense and additional glosses, probably also from the hand of Le Franc, the poem forms the hermeneutical filter that determines the reception of the Qur’ n in Christian terms. Le Franc’s polemics correspond to a pattern typical of the time, but his unforgiving tone stands in striking contrast to the efforts of Juan de Segovia (c. 1395–1458), whom he had met at the Council of Basel. Since Ms. lat. 3669 contains a hitherto unknown copy of Segovia’s Errores legis Mahumeti, the collection was arguably copied in Aiton (Savoy) in the late 1450s and then sent to Le Franc, who subsequently supplemented it with his polemics.
Abbreviatio. Historische Perspektiven auf ein rhetorisch-poetisches Prinzip (hg. v. J. Frick / O. Grütter), 2021
Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 164, 2021
Propertius' finale of his fourth book of elegies is typically conceded exceptional status within ... more Propertius' finale of his fourth book of elegies is typically conceded exceptional status within the corpus. The dead Cornelia, daughter of Augustus' ex-wife Scribonia, speaks from beyond the grave claiming credit for her life as exemplary Roman matron. The transmission of traditional values into the age of Augustus is a key topic of the poem. As a scion of archetypal nobility Cornelia figures as a bridge between the mos maiorum of the past and the present. However, her and her husband's repeated claim to descend from heirless Scipio Aemilianus and Aemilius Paullus fractures not only the self-reliant display of genealogical succession but challenges the idea of continuity that lies behind Augustan ideology.
Studies in Late Antiquity 4.1, 2020
The Epithalamium Fridi is a sixth-century Virgilian cento that commemorates the marriage of the V... more The Epithalamium Fridi is a sixth-century Virgilian cento that commemorates the marriage of the Vandal noble Fridus with his unnamed bride. Its author, the African poet Luxurius, engages in versatile poetic play fusing Virgil with multiple epithalamial models such as Statius, Claudian, and Ausonius. Through the dynamics of triangular intertextu-ality the centonist is able to strengthen the wedding poem's generic bonds and to connect himself and his work firmly to the classical Roman tradition. At the same time, echoes of distinctive African idiosyncrasies as prefigured by Dracontius highlight the hybrid character of sixth-century Romano-Vandal elite culture and its celebration of what appears to be a distinctive African Romanness.
Journal of Late Antiquity: 13.1, 2020
The objective of the following discussion is to illuminate the status and pertinence that poetic ... more The objective of the following discussion is to illuminate the status and pertinence that poetic contention and literary rivalry maintained within late antique peer groups. Competition and rivalry were a natural part of the day to day world of the late antique aristocracy. In the friendship groups of Ausonius, Symmachus or Sidonius Apollinaris aristocratic competition was played out primarily in demanding literary short form compositions, authored in the time of leisure. Despite its emplacement in a context of competitiveness, the agonistic colouring of late antique nugae literature is scarcely perceptible in the texts. This is, however, the result of a semantic reorganisation in the course of the transmission of what were once occasional pieces in the medium of the book. In deliberate contrast to the favoured interpretation of this literature as the expression of artfully learned playfulness, this reading recalls the agonistic context of the initial production and reception in order to better understand the significance and function of this literature as aristocratic mode of interaction.
Antike Texte und ihre Materialität - Alltägliche Präsenz, mediale Semantik, literarische Reflexion, hg. von Cornelia Ritter-Schmalz und Raphael Schwitter (Materiale Textkulturen Bd. 27)), 2019
Zwischen Alltagskommunikation und literarischer Identitätsbildung. Studien zur lateinischen Epistolographie in Spätantike und Frühmittelalter (ed. G. M. Müller)), 2018
Linguarum Varietas, 2017
This paper questions the common modern distinction between literary and non-literary texts in Gra... more This paper questions the common modern distinction between literary and non-literary texts in Graeco-Roman culture. With special focus on the private and o cial letters of aristocrats in Late Antique Gaul it will be shown that, neither from the point of view of the writer, nor from that of the contemporary reader, did a given letter not have a ‘literary’ quality per se. Obvious di erences in language and style are not necessarily an indication of an intended ‘literary’ or ‘non-literary’ reception, they merely re ect di er- ent communicative situations and rhetorical codes. The form of transmission or medial representation may serve as false friends: Cassiodor’s o cial letters, for example, were legal texts in the rst place, but became ‘literature’ by being copied into a manuscript collection. This ‘redeployment’ truly changed the nature and semantic of the original text by changing its mediality, signalling to or preparing the reader for a speci c literary reception. Thus the private letter exchanges of Avitus of Vienne, Ennodius or Ruricius of Limoges – indeed highly elaborate social performances – were only collected and pub- lished after their authors had died. However these letters certainly had a ‘literary’ recep- tion during contemporary circulation within the peergroups of their authors. Instead of projecting modern ideas of ‘the literary’ onto Late Antiquity, one would therefore do well to look at the actual reading conventions and habits within the elite micro-communities in which these letters were exchanged. Fictional texts aside, only the reconstruction of the essential ‘contracts’ between texts and readers makes for historical reliability and o ers insight into the forms and manners of literary reception within relatively closed interpre- tative communities.
Ciceroniana, 2017
Offering consolatory advice and comfort was a highly delicate task that potentially could threate... more Offering consolatory advice and comfort was a highly delicate task that potentially could threaten the precarious amicitia relationship between Roman aristocrats of the Late Republic. Especially in letters – the means of communication to which Cicero and his peers usually turned if personal conversation was impossible – consoling a friend was quite challenging. In order to avoid offending the often thin-skinned bereaved, the writer had to consider the mental and emotional condition of the addressee, and most importantly to pay respect to his social status. As the consolatory letters de morte preserved in Cicero’s Epistulae ad familiares show, epistolary consolation in late republican Rome was characterized by a specific communicative strategy based upon politeness and the conveyance of personal affection rather than on philosophical exhortation and rebuke, which traditionally dominate literary consolation in Greek and Roman Antiquity.
Jahrbuch für Internationale Germanistik, 2009
Durch Rückgriff auf antike Vorbilder versucht der Dichter Modoin die panegyrische Hirtendichtung... more Durch Rückgriff auf antike Vorbilder versucht der Dichter Modoin die panegyrische Hirtendichtung am Hof Karls des Grossen wiederzubeleben und der dominanten geistlichen Bukolik Alcuins eine säkulare Alternative entgegenzuhalten.
Die Vita s. Galli hat seit ihrer Abfassung Ende des 7. oder Anfang des 8. Jh. eine kontinuierlich... more Die Vita s. Galli hat seit ihrer Abfassung Ende des 7. oder Anfang des 8. Jh. eine kontinuierliche Weiterentwicklung erfahren, die ihren Höhepunkt während der Blütezeit des Klosters Mitte des 9. Jh. hatte. Im Zuge dieses Überarbeitungsprozesses wurde durch interpretative Rückprojektion karolingischer Gelehrter der Einsiedler Gallus zum Missionar des Bodenseegebiets stilisiert.
Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch, 2011
Die Entstehungszeit der ältesten Teile der Vita s. Galli vetustissima (BHL 3245) liegt aufgrund i... more Die Entstehungszeit der ältesten Teile der Vita s. Galli vetustissima (BHL 3245) liegt aufgrund inhaltlicher Belege nicht um 680, sondern mit ziemlicher Sicherheit im frühen 8. Jh., möglicherweise um 720/25, in der Anfangszeit des jungen Klosters.
Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, 2014
Ausgehend von der Frage nach den Traditionslinien der spätantiken Briefkultur in der Briefsammlun... more Ausgehend von der Frage nach den Traditionslinien der spätantiken Briefkultur in der Briefsammlung eines Repräsentanten des merowingischen Reichsadels des 7. Jh. werden bestimmte Charakteristika der aristokratisch geprägten Kommunikationskultur im Umkreis König Dagoberts offengelegt: Das Medium aristokratischer Freundschaftspflege blieb in Form und Motivik weitgehend unverändert, doch haben sich die darin verhandelten Identitäts- und Gemeinschaftskonzeptionen der beteiligten Gesellschaftsschichten entscheidend gewandelt.
Museum Helveticum, 2016
Durch geschickte Bezugnahme auf die antike Vergil-Kritik und insbesondere auf den dort verhandelt... more Durch geschickte Bezugnahme auf die antike Vergil-Kritik und insbesondere auf den dort verhandelten Diskurs über die moralische Integrität des grossen Dichters und seines Werkes versteht es Ausonius, die pornographisch-obszöne Passage seines Hochzeits-Cento, die Defloration der Braut (Cent. 101–131), spielerisch zu entschärfen. Die sowohl impliziten wie expliziten Referenzen auf die in der Schultradition als Heuchler und Pedanten desavouierten obtrectatores Vergilii übernehmen im Text eine zentrale apologetische Funktion, indem in satirischer Übersteigerung einer bestimmten Rezeptionshaltung potentielle Obszönitätsvorwürfe auf den Leser zurückgeworfen werden. Zugleich wird durch Ausonius’ manipulative Leserführung aber gewährleistet, dass den Rezipienten weder die sexuelle Allegorese der imminutio noch die des vergilischen Prätextes entgeht.
Books by Raphael Schwitter
Mnemosyne Supplements, 2024
Die vorliegende Monographie entwirft eine literaturgeschichtliche Gesamtdarstellung des römischen... more Die vorliegende Monographie entwirft eine literaturgeschichtliche Gesamtdarstellung des römischen Antiquarianismus vom 2. Jahrhundert v. Chr. bis zum 3. Jahrhundert n. Chr. Ausgangspunkt ist die begrifflich-konzeptuelle Neuprofilierung des Phänomens. Dieses wird als ein epistemologisches Modell gegenwartsbezogener Vergangenheitsanalyse aufgefasst, die mit den Denkfiguren der Etymologie, Aitiologie und Genealogie operiert, um die hinter der erfahrbaren Lebenswelt liegenden Kausalitäten freizulegen. Anhand der überlieferten Fragmente und Testimonien wird die Entwicklung der heute verlorenen antiquarischen Fachliteratur Roms in ihren unterschiedlichen medialen Formaten, Darstellungsformen und Wirkungskontexten nachgezeichnet.
This volume provides an account of Roman antiquarianism from the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century AD, reconstructing its textual manifestations and analysing the mechanisms of transmission. It is based on a new conceptualisation of antiquarianism as an epistemological mode of understanding the present by uncovering its origins in the past. Etymology, aitiology and genealogy were the tools used to explore the causalities that underpin the perceptible world. Antiquarianism, represented by a wide range of texts and genres throughout antiquity, is traced as an autonomous branch of literature. Fragments and testimonies are used to identify a lost corpus of treatises, lexica and handbooks that formed the scholarly basis of Augustan poets, historiographers and imperial litterateurs.
Uploads
Papers by Raphael Schwitter
Books by Raphael Schwitter
This volume provides an account of Roman antiquarianism from the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century AD, reconstructing its textual manifestations and analysing the mechanisms of transmission. It is based on a new conceptualisation of antiquarianism as an epistemological mode of understanding the present by uncovering its origins in the past. Etymology, aitiology and genealogy were the tools used to explore the causalities that underpin the perceptible world. Antiquarianism, represented by a wide range of texts and genres throughout antiquity, is traced as an autonomous branch of literature. Fragments and testimonies are used to identify a lost corpus of treatises, lexica and handbooks that formed the scholarly basis of Augustan poets, historiographers and imperial litterateurs.
This volume provides an account of Roman antiquarianism from the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century AD, reconstructing its textual manifestations and analysing the mechanisms of transmission. It is based on a new conceptualisation of antiquarianism as an epistemological mode of understanding the present by uncovering its origins in the past. Etymology, aitiology and genealogy were the tools used to explore the causalities that underpin the perceptible world. Antiquarianism, represented by a wide range of texts and genres throughout antiquity, is traced as an autonomous branch of literature. Fragments and testimonies are used to identify a lost corpus of treatises, lexica and handbooks that formed the scholarly basis of Augustan poets, historiographers and imperial litterateurs.
Die sechzehn Beiträge des Bandes gehen dem komplexen Zusammenspiel von materieller Präsenz, medialer Semantik und literarischer Reflexion aus der Sicht der Klassischen Philologie, der Alten Geschichte, der Archäologie und der Rechtsgeschichte nach. Die Publikation zielt darauf ab, aktuelle Forschungsansätze zur Materialität antiker Texte zwischen Lebenswelt und Lesewelt in einen interdisziplinären Dialog zu setzen.