Varro and the Two-Headed City

Pedro López Barja de Quiroga

doi:10.5209/geri.92815

Varro and the Two-Headed City

Pedro López Barja de Quiroga Universidad de Santiago de Compostela https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6983-1342

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/geri.92815

Keywords: Posidonius, equites, Plato, civil war, haruspicina, Gracchus

Abstract

An in-depth analysis of Varro’s sentence (quoted by Nonius) on Gracchus judiciary law having created a two-headed city shows how the polygrapher artfully combined Plato’s political considerations on constitutional change with Roman priestly lore (haruspicina). Varro’s sympathies for the optimates find in this sentence its best expression. Posidonius may have been an intermediate stage in the use of these Platonic ideas to understand Roman political history.

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2024-07-18

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López Barja de Quiroga P. (2024). Varro and the Two-Headed City. Gerión. Revista de Historia Antigua, 42(1). https://doi.org/10.5209/geri.92815

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