Dioniso come paradigma del potere: dalla conquista dell’Oriente a Roma. Percorsi letterari.

This chapter focuses on the topic of the Roman triumph and on its Dionysian influence. The Roman triumph, a victorious return to the center of political power (Rome) from the conquered periphery of a growing Roman Empire, can be seen to follow closely the triumph of Dionysus on the Indians. This is in fact a reformulation of Dionysus’ travels, already mentioned in Euripides’ Bacchae, as a mythical parallel for Alexander’s conquest of India. After providing an overview of how the triumphant generals of Republican Rome appropriated the Dionysian triumph, this chapter focuses on a series of passages from Augustan literature that show how Dionysus’ Indian triumph is exploited and adapted for ideological and political purposes. The chapter closes with a reading of a chorus in Seneca’s Oedipus (vv. 403-508) and argues for an Apollonian and Augustan substratum of this veritable ‘ode’ to Bacchus.