The "tempestas" in the "Historia Apollonii regis Tyri"

Abstract

This paper analyzes the way each of the recensiones (RA and RB) of the Historia Apollonii regis Tyri reworks one of the most typical and widespread topoi, not only in the tradition of the ancient novel, but in all classical literature: the tempestas. To this end, first of all, I will check the numerous problems related to this late novel (the place and the date of composition, the language of the original, the status of the preserved Latin text); then, the main characteristics of tempestas will be defined in the ancient literature, with particular emphasis on the storm of Aeneid I and its relation to the Historia Apollonii; and, finally, the analysis of Historia Apollonii 11 – the moment in which the storm appears under the form of an epica tempestatis descriptio. I will discuss as well the prosimetrum and the cento form that the text assumes in this section. The central purpose is to demonstrate that RB deepens the poetical dimension of the narrative.