Parole chiave
Plutarco
Vite parallele
sincope
paura
Andromaca
Giulia
Cornelia
Porcia
Come citare
Abstract
Graeco-Roman fainting is a generally understudied subject. Homeric syncopes appear in an overview by Alfons Nehring 1947, who notes that the percentage of male fainting incidents is considerable, whereas female episodes are less common. Although Homeric fainting is not strictly gendered, it typically functions as a commentary on a character’s weakened vulnerability when the character in question is either elderly or female. This article examines one crucial episode of female fainting through the character of Andromache in Iliad 22 and explores her subsequent influence in Plutarch’s Parallel Lives. Plutarch develops this paradigm in the Lives of Pompey and Brutus, as the works feature lively moments of feminine lament, fear, and collapse. Plutarch’s anecdotes of the swoons from the Late Republican Julia, Cornelia, and Porcia are prime instances of embodied emotion that can be traced back to Andromache’s swoon. Ultimately, the transformation of the Andromache paradigm perceived in Plutarch illustrates how this literary tradition of the gendered swoon has evolved gradually.
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