I personaggi femminili della Pharsalia di Lucano

The PhD thesis at issue is a global study on female characters in Lucan's Pharsalia: actually the subject has been for long time disregarded by scholars. Female characters were simply nothing but mere and decorative elements for male characters. After a general introduction, in the first section the historical characters i.e. Giulia, Cornelia, Marzia, Cleopatra and Arsinoe are analysed; in the second section more space is given to the three characters that Lucan made up: an ordinary matron instigated by Apollo in a frenzied way, the Pythian Phemonoe and the witch Erictho. They play the role of forseeing Rome's unfortunate destiny: its downfall; in the third section the mythological characters Medusa, Medea and Agave are taken into consideration. In two chapters aside more space is given respectively to the personification of Rome appearing to Caesar at the Rubicon's shores and to the group of ordinary matrons letting themselves go for sorrow when the civil war starts all of a sudden. On the whole, (it has been evinced) it appears clearly that in Pharsalia women are elaborate and sophisticated characters and they play an active role in the whole action. Their importance is also demonstrated by the fortune they achieved and enjoyed afterwards in following literature and figurative arts, as we tried to highlight in the last chapter