Letters to the editor

Hartnett, William F.

doi:10.1097/00006247-197409000-00005

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…On a street where low-slung balconies and jetties loomed over pedestrians before nearly every building, and where people came and went through many closely packed doorways, this structure's lofty façade, pierced by one stately doorway, signaled that it was a different realm. 47 This impressive structure, one that stood out from all others on the street, marked the residents as people of political influence. The electoral graffiti outside the entrance confirmed this assumption: the numerous dipinti bearing his name and the endorsements from uicini are what prompted Della Corte to attribute this house to P. Paquius Proculus in the first place.…”

Section: A Joke At Proculus' Expense?mentioning

confidence: 99%

CVCVTA AB RATIONIBVS NERONIS AVGVSTI: A JOKE AT NERO'S EXPENSE?

Malik¹

2019

The Class. Q.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

On the outside wall and in the vestibule of the ‘House of Publius Paquius Proculus’ in Pompeii (building I.7.1) three graffiti containing the name Cucuta can be found. The first simply reads Cucuta (CIL 4.8065 [outside wall]). The second tells us that Cucuta was an attendant of the Emperor Nero (CIL 4.8066 [outside wall]): Cu(cuta) | Cucuta Ner(onis). From the third we learn that Cucuta was a financial secretary (a rationibus) of Nero (CIL 4.8075 [vestibule]): Cucuta ab ra[t]ioni[b]us | Neronis Augusti. While the meaning and significance of these graffiti may seem apparent—that one of Nero's attendants scratched his name on the wall and vestibule pillar as he waited for the emperor to return from a meeting—the closeness between Cucuta (an otherwise unattested name) and cicuta (hemlock) raises a key question: should we read Cucuta as Cicuta and therefore understand the third graffito in particular as a joke about Nero's rumoured fondness for killing family, friends and his senatorial enemies with poison? In other words, is it Poison, and not a person, that keeps Nero's finances in order? And, if so, can the Cucuta graffiti give us an alternative insight into the plethora of wall inscriptions found outside building I.7.1 greeting Publius Paquius Proculus and recommending him for office?

show abstract

Section: A Joke At Proculus' Expense?mentioning

confidence: 99%

CVCVTA AB RATIONIBVS NERONIS AVGVSTI: A JOKE AT NERO'S EXPENSE?

Malik¹

2019

The Class. Q.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Letters to the editor

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

CVCVTA AB RATIONIBVS NERONIS AVGVSTI: A JOKE AT NERO'S EXPENSE?

CVCVTA AB RATIONIBVS NERONIS AVGVSTI: A JOKE AT NERO'S EXPENSE?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About