Thracian motifs in Augustan poetry

Abstract

The author presented the presence of Thracian motifs in poetry written during the reign of Octavian Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD). The aim of the article is to determine how poets presented Thrace and what the literary image of this region and its inhabitants was. The author used the method of literary and comparative analysis. The basis of the research are the works of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Propertius and Tibullus. Geographical, historical and mythological motifs were analysed, without reconstructing the history of Thrace. The author showed that poets most often presented Thrace as a distant and harsh northern land. This painting is dominated by descriptions of snow, frost, icy nature and mountains. Rich material on this subject can be found, for example, in the works of Ovid, which were written during his stay in exile in Tomis on the Black Sea. According to the author, these descriptions had a significant impact on perpetuating the stereotypical image of Thrace as an inhospitable and barbaric place. The discussed poetry also includes numerous references to myths related to Orpheus, Bacchus and Mars. The poetic image of Thrace was created from a combination of mythological tradition, the experience of Roman expansion and the literary conventions of the era. Its analysis allows us to understand the mechanisms of shaping ideas about distant regions of the Roman Empire.