The tradition about the mons Caelius

Malloch, Simon

Abstract

This essay offers three arguments concerning the ancient tradition about the mons Caelius. (1) Tacitus’ digression on the name of the mons Caelius at Annals 4.65 provides a useful framework for interpreting the complexity of the tradition: Caeles Vibenna should be regarded as a constant feature, his chronological context as an unstable feature that was recognised as such. (2) Claudius’ report of Etruscan auctores on the naming of the mons Caelius in his speech of A.D. 48 about the Gauls, correctly emended, offers a unique etymology that cannot be reconciled with Roman accounts. (3) The presence of appellitare in Tacitus’ digression and Claudius’ speech is normally assumed to prove Tacitus’ debt to Claudius, but this assumption cannot be sustained in the face of their fundamentally irreconcilable treatments of Caeles Vibenna. Tacitus used appellitare independently of Claudius, who was not a source of Ann. 4.65.

Citation

Malloch, S. (2018). The tradition about the mons Caelius. Hermes, 146(4), 454-469. https://doi.org/10.25162/hermes-2018-0039

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 24, 2017
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: May 25, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 2, 2020
• Journal: Hermes
• Electronic ISSN: 0018-0777
• Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 146
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 454-469
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.25162/hermes-2018-0039
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/722905
• Publisher URL: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/fsv/hermes/2018/00000146/00000004/art00005