THE PROPAGANDIC POETICS OF THE CLAUDIUS CLAUDIANUS OR THE CULTURE OF MEMORY INVOLVED

Abstract

Emerial panegyrics were comsidered to be a subject of certain controversy.What was the exact puropose of this genre? Early on, they were dismissed  as to flattery, a result of a deire to persent picture perfect image and the genre that could be used and misused; the „inflated” sense of self triumphing by those who were written about. The only more sophisticated opinion stated that panegurics were ment to portray a perfect prince, with hopes that the emperor to whom the panegyric was dedicated to would adjust his behaviour according to this model. The other writers of this genre saw themselves as some sort of public relations court personelle, and panegyrics as poems desigend to depict emperor in a way which he wanted to be perceived by the common folk. All three given motives were often present in a certain degree, which differd from ocasion to ocasion, but that it is also possible that the main role of panegyric was simply to serve as a part of all important public ceremonies, like some sory of medal or diptych issued during commemorations. In many ways, panegyrics resembled custom made or pre ordered musical pieces of our era. Themes that those poems covered were in most cases so conventional (not to say trivial) and removed from anything mundane that it is hard to imagine that they were taken seriously either by the emperor or his subjects. Form and the manner of presentation were much more impotant than content itself. The writers of panegyric gained wealt, priviledges and glory not according to what they were writing abot, but due to fulfilling the request for a perfecty formed praise and the skill to present the written.