The origins of Rome in the Renaissance: revival & reinvention, rejection & replacement

Abstract

This chapter analyses how humanist poets during the Renaissance employed the aetiological discourse concerning the origins of Rome. By this aetiological discourse I do not only mean the foundation myths of Rome themselves, but also the body of ancient literature in which these myths were told, as well as the aetiological thinking and reasoning they reflect. I aim to show that these poets, as well as the influential people for whom they often wrote did not just have antiquarian or literary interest in these ancient foundation myths. Instead, I argue that in essence the same things were at stake for the humanist writers as for their ancient predecessors, when they used aetiological stories to explain and legitimize a certain status quo: a political, cultural or religious institution or practice.2 More specifically, I explain how numerous parties (cities, nations, empires etc.) employed the same aetiological discourse not in isolation, but in competition with each other.