Use Of Satire In Greek Mythology

Myths were used to both define, unify and to divide Roman society. Mythical knowledge, and in particular Greek mythology, was the cultural currency in even in the remotest parts of the Roman world, resulting in higher social status. Cameron (2010, p.201) argues that ‘Aristotle claimed that even the best known myths were known only to a few’ members of society but that everyone knew the outlines of myths. Myths were everywhere in society from coins, statues, wall paintings and mosaics but there was no defining narrative of any of the myths. The myths were often known by a single, memorable, often shocking detail, for example the death of Hippolytus as shown on the Greek red figure krater from Apulia. The dominant scene on the lower register

p.201). Mythical knowledge was not the only aspect that denoted a Roman’s status but the ability to use it to communicate a personal statement about their values, identity and status. This is demonstrated in two examples from the Petronius’ The Satyricon in particular the banquet of a former slave Trimalchio and the wall painting from the House of Jason in Pompeii.

Satire in Roman literature was designed to be comedic with deliberate exaggeration of situations and characters creating social stereotypes to entertain rather than reflect social reality. Petronius’ The Satyricon is a satire in which he depicts the pretentious behaviour of his character, Trimalchio, as a stereotype for the nouveau riche, illustrating the importance of Greek myths and its ability to both divide and unite society through social stratification. The banquet held at Trimalchio’s house is where he advertises his status, pedigree, knowledge, education and culture in order to impress his guests (Hughes and Hope, 2010, p.161). It is a show with dancing, poetry, recitals, acrobats and foods made to look like mythical characters and the zodiac (Petronius, The Satyricon, 35). Petronius describes the wall mural in Trimalchio’s house where his life story