Un episodio di ‘patriottismo’ servile nella Roma arcaica

Abstract

Philotis-Tutula and her fellow slaves, as the story told by Plutarch and Macrobius goes, sexually entertained the Latin (or Fidenates’) army besieging the ruins of Rome after Brennus had sacked the town, so as to enable the Romans to burst suddenly into the enemies’ camp and destroy them. From that episode the Roman festival of Nonae Caprotinae(or Capratinae) is said to have drawn its origin. The article seeks to explain the ideological meaning of the story and to investigate when and why it was created.