Abstract

Abstract:

This article examines the animalization of Nero in Book 4 of Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana and focuses, in particular, on Apollonius' surprising claim that Nero dared to do what no wild beast ever did, namely, devour his own mother (4.38.3–4). It argues that Apollonius' words evoke widespread beliefs about the reproduction of vipers, and that Philostratus took full advantage of connections that were active in the collective imaginaire —between young vipers, Orestes and Alcmaeon, and Nero—in order to present Agrippina's murder as an act of bestial cannibalism and, thus, Nero as a monstrous creature completely beyond redemption.

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