IL PAPAVERO DA OPPIO NELLA CULTURA E NELLA RELIGIONE ROMANA: ASPETTI SIMBOLICI E ARTISTICI

The aim of my work is to analyze from a literary, religious, iconographic and symbolic point of view the role that papaver somniferum played in Roman culture. Thanks to the amount of iconographic and literary evidence preserved till today, it is well known that the vegetal language had great importance in antiquity. Even though the topic has already been studied to gain knowledge of the different symbolic meanings used at that time, some vegetal species have been quite neglected, their analysis concentrating only on recognizing their presumed meaning, therefore providing a only superficial and simplified explanation along the lines of our modern metaphoric associations. This happens with the opium poppy (often even mixed up with the pomegranate, at least in the iconographic field) to which the studies have attributed small importance, even though it appears, or is referred to, in various contexts: from the political-official to the celebrative-religious or the literary one. These have gradually led to changes in its meaning, enriching it with significant nuances. The work starts with an essential, methodological introduction (called interpretatio plantarum) directed towards a close historiographical examination of the most important studies about botany in the classical world published till today. Some exceptions are made due either to the partial importance of some of these contributions or to the already prominent popularity of some others. The real dissertation concerning the opium poppy is divided in two ample sections: the first dedicated to the analysis of all the literature quoting the plant (here Vergil and Ovid stand out among the others), the second revolving around some iconographic materials (for example: the Ara Pacis and the frescoes of Livia's villa at Prima Porta). Sculptures will not be analyzed (apart from a selection of narrative monuments) partly because of its too vast quantity of evidence but, most of all, because its iconographic features (i.e. the opium poppy) are mainly the consequence of modern restoration. The work led to uncover new aspects, and to verify some old ones, regarding the meanings papaver somniferum had in the different contexts of roman culture. These, far from being only sterile sophistry, show how the contemporary symbolic associations and interpretations are very different from the ancient Roman ones.