Exoticism in Ancient Rome: An Unconventional Poetic Analysis

There is a reason (beyond its immense cultural impact) that the most famous empire in history is the Roman one: its sheer size. For centuries, the Roman Empire was the most extensive social and political structure in Western antiquity. At its zenith, under the reign of Emperor Trajan, it encompassed an enormous and dizzying array of climates, natural resources, peoples, and cultures. Stretching from the cloudy beaches of Britannia to the sun-soaked Arabian sands, the Roman Empire's size and diversity were unmatched during its time and for centuries afterward. Importantly, however, the Roman empire was not merely a military or administrative endeavor; rather, it was an imperial project designed to globalize Roman identity, which, in turn, fundamentally reshaped what it meant to be a Roman. The concept of the exotic -- the alluring imports of lands part of the Empire but only in name -- became a central fixture in the Roman imagination and cultural life. Far from a monolithic love or hatred, the Roman conception of the exotic was a complex blend of desire, anxiety, fascination, and judgment that pervaded Roman homes and minds.

The importation into Rome of exotic goods, including Indian spices, Chinese silk, Baltic amber, and African wild beasts, was a constant reminder of Rome's vast reach. Saturated with meaning beyond just their physical attributes, these objects took on a symbolic identity. Therefore, in poetry specifically, Roman authors best articulated, combatted, and influenced Roman fear and excitement about new exotic influences. Although through these verses, we cannot unearth the actual Roman imports (that work we shall leave to the archaeologists), by analyzing them, we can excavate Roman attitudes towards imperialism, luxury, and the exotic "other."

Today, in a slightly unconventional poetic analysis, we will explore the representations of exoticism in the works of three Roman poets: Vergil, Propertius, and Seneca the Younger. We will be excerpting from various collections (primarily Vergil's Georgics, Propertius's elegies, and Seneca's Medea). All translations will be provided by yours truly. Through these three distinct poems, we hope to trace the disparate and often contradictory conceptions of exoticism and diversity in Ancient Rome. Since this analysis's structure differs from our typical format, please let us know in the comments below if you prefer this format/any changes you'd like to see made to it in the future. Without further ado, let the analysis begin!

Vergil's Georgics and the Celebration of Empire

Writing in the tumultuous yet hopeful era of Augustus's principate, Vergil's Georgics, published around 29 BCE, is ostensibly a simple poem about farming. Yet, shrouded by descriptions of wheat and predictions for the future harvest, the Georgics contains a powerful meditation on the social and political state of Rome. In the finale of Book II, Vergil provides an incredibly descriptive vision of Italy's blessings before he reverts to a celebration of the simple life of the farmer; this description doubles as a powerful articulation of Roman appreciation for and fear of diversity.

The Latin (Georgics II, 155-168):

Verum haec ipse equidem spatis exclusus iniquis

praetereo atque aliis post me memoranda relinquo.

Adde tot egregias urbes operumque laborem,

tot congesta manu praeruptis oppida saxis

fluminaque antiquos subter labentia muros.

An mare quod supra memorem, quodque adluit infra?

Anne lacus tantos? Te, Lari maxime, teque,

fluctibus et fremitu adsurgens Benace marino?

An memorem portus Lucrinoque addita claustra

atque indignatum magnis stridoribus aequor,

Iulia qua ponto longe sonat unda refuso

Tyrrhenusque fretis immittitur aestus Avernis?

English Translation

But these wonders that I myself, barred by cruel limits of space, must pass over and leave for future men to recollect:

Add so many noble cities and the labour of men’s hands;

so many towns piled high by hand on merely sheer rocks, and rivers gliding underneath the ancient walls.

Or should I recount the sea above, or the sea that washes below?

Or the great lakes? You, greatest Larius, and you,

Benacus, surging with an ocean-like roar?

Or should I recall the harbours, and the barriers added to the Lucrine Lake, and the sea resounding far and wide where the Julian waters echo from the poured-back deep, and the Tyrrhene tide is let into the channels of Avernus?

In this passage, Vergil praises the sheer size and geographical diversity of Rome. He lauds feats of Roman engineering (harbor construction and lake drainage) that spread across the empire. Vergil is stunned by the sheer amount of cities and waters that Rome encompasses, expressing clearly his inability to contain the vastness of the empire within just one book of verse. Instead, he is forced to choose which aspects of the Roman Empire to highlight; his choice is revealing: although he celebrates the size of the Roman Empire, he only names geography distinct to Rome. The Lucrine Lake, Avernus, and "noble cities" all exist within Italy itself, implicitly endorsing a view that the aspects of Rome most deserving of being remembered -- the aspects most Roman -- are those closest to the Roman empire. This implied superiority becomes clearer when Vergil describes the life of the farmer, who is not exposed to the exotic goods provided by Roman conquest.

The Latin (Georgics II, 495-502):

Illum non populi fasces, non purpura regum

flexit et infidos agitans discordia fratres,

aut coniurato descendens Dacus ab Histro,

non res Romanae perituraque regna; neque ille

aut doluit miserans inopem aut invidit habenti. Quos rami fructus, quos ipsa volentia rura

sponte tulere sua, carpsit, nec ferrea iura

insanumque forum aut populi tabularia vidit.

English Translation

He is not swayed by the peoples’ fasces, the purple of kings, or discord stirring between treacherous brothers, nor the Dacian descending from his conspiring Danube, nor Rome’s affairs and kingdoms doomed to fall; nor has he grieved for the poor or envied the rich. The fruits which his boughs, which his willing fields bore of their own accord, he gathers; he has not seen the iron laws, the mad forum, or the public records office.

In this passage, the "purple of kings" and "Dacian" are positioned as a disturbance to the peace of a typical Roman. On the one hand, the "purple" refers to the purple dye the Romans imported from the East. Exotic goods are therefore a part of the distant, turbulent world that the ideal Roman farmer is blissfully free of-- once again, Vergil is subtly expressing the Roman scorn and fear of the diversity of their empire. On the other hand, the farmer is only able to enjoy his fields because of the Roman conquest of the land previously ruled by the Dacians. The Dacians, enemies of Rome predating the conquest, have since been ostensibly incorporated peacefully into the empire. Thus, the farmer's peace is a product of the Roman Empire's diversity and the global network of peace it creates.

In Vergil's Georgics, the exotic is both proof of Rome's incredible achievements and less "Roman" than the lands closest to the empire; the exotic is both a disturbing force and a tranquilizing one. Vergil, like many Romans of his time, simply does not know what to think.

Propertius’s Elegies and the Exotic as Corrupt

Because exotic imports became widespread in wealthy Ancient Roman homes, poets began to remark on their psychological influence on individuals. Writing in the same period as Vergil, yet from the polar opposite perspective (that of the urban, wealthy, and trendy Roman), Propertius argues that exotic goods were potent tools of personal and moral corruption, especially for Roman women. Focusing on the influence of Eastern luxuries on Roman homes, Propertius warns that their inclusion constitutes an invasion that undermines the fabric of traditional Roman values.

The Latin (2.16.1-4)

Praetor ab Illyricis venit modo, Cynthia, terris,

maxima praeda tibi, maxima cura mihi.

Nunc ille potens nullo miscuri pectore nostro,

in nostra nostro qui premit ossa sinu!

(2.16.5-12) (Partial)

Non ego nunc trivials vercor, mea Cynthia, manus,

ne te conscribent: nulla tabella tibi.

At mihi non ullas poterat vincere poenas,

ni tibi vana daret mendacia vilis amor.

An tantum in me pericli est, Cynthia, saepe rogare,

et me quod noli dicere velle tuli?

At tu per nostrum, per qui tibi vana ministrat,

ingenium, Cynthia, semper amata, vale.

English Translation

A praetor has just come, Cynthia, from Illyrian lands, the most fabulous prize for you, the greatest worry for me. Now he, powerful with spoils, mixes his heart with none, he who crushes my bones in my own embrace!

I do not now fear common hands, my Cynthia, lest they enlist you: no draft notice for you. But no punishments could conquer me, did not cheap love give you empty lies. Or is the only danger for me, Cynthia, to ask often, and to endure your saying you don’t want what I want? But by my nature, which serves you vain things, Cynthia, once loved, forever, farewell.

Propertius's opinion on exotic influence is explicit. His mistress, Cynthia, is captivated by foreign men and gold, leading her to desire vain goods rather than love. The Illyrian lands possess a mysterious force that, by consuming Cynthia's imagination, crushes Roman men attempting to keep their women "morally correct" (the gender stereotyping and oppressive dynamics here go almost without saying). Propertius has "common hands" while his love has a vanity that requires him to leave her forever, lest he too be afflicted. Later in the elegy, Propertius will list the Assyrian oils, Persian carpets, and Indian ivory that have infected his love, revealing the Roman conception that the East was a realm of excessive luxury and moral degradation. Propertius's reaction to exoticism is therefore fundamentally reactionary and moralizing, protesting against the new social and economic opportunities the Roman Empire provides in favor of remaining firmly planted in an isolationist paradigm.

Seneca's Medea and Exoticism as the Terror of Gods

By the time Seneca was writing (the first century CE), the Roman Empire was consolidated, bureaucratic, and massive. The initial awe and panic surrounding exotic goods, as expressed by Vergil and Propertius, had settled into a permanent fixture of Roman life. However, just because something is established does not mean it evades criticism. In his adaptation of Euripides's Medea, Seneca, a Stoic philosopher, argues that Medea (a witch from the Black Sea and emblem of exoticism) is a powerful weapon for supernatural revenge.

Latin Text (732-736)

Quaecumque pontus Aut harenis latuit sparsus Thessalis orbis, 

Monstra quoque infesta quae tractat magica manu, 

Huc adhibete pedem; nunc induitur artes magicas 

Quae terra gignit, quae mare quae aer incolis 

Terroribus plenus.

English Translation

Whatever the sea hides or the Thessalian world, strewn with sands, conceals; you too, monsters, whom the hostile hand of magic controls, bring your step here; now she dons the magic arts which the earth begets, which the sea, which the air, full of terrors, breeds.

Medea is inextricably linked to the exotic world, which is positioned as entirely separate from the Roman one. The “Thessalian” sands and oceans are not acknowledged as part of Rome’s empire but rendered a dangerous other that contains “monsters,” like Medea, which threaten the safety of every god Roman. Unlike the Roman Gods, who are sympathetic to the Roman people, Medea is foreign and therefore deserving of hatred. Indeed, later Seneca will describe how Medea adorns herself with "Arab’s herbs” and "Parthians’ poisons” and uses “Indian serpents” to draw her carriage. She is the embodiment of exotic influence and is portrayed as a threat to Rome and its citizens. She is a murderer, an aggressive woman – a terrifying inversion of the Roman order – illustrating, on a cosmic scale, the same narrative of the exotic’s corrupting power. 

Medea reflects the anxieties that exotic goods inspire among Roman elites, which have not diminished over time. She is the exotic barbarian who wreaks havoc on upstanding Roman citizens, threatening to overthrow the delicate Roman order. These Romans see the exotic influence resting within their own empire as a terrifying, insidious force capable of destroying the Roman way of living. 

In Conclusion…

Roman exoticism, as represented across these three Roman peoms reveals a dynamic, evolving dialogue between Rome itself and its empire. Vergil shows us the confident vision of Imperial Rome as a stabilizing force, yet provides hints of Roman fear of the exotic that Propserius and Seneca the Younger will later expand upon. Propertius, taking the perspective of a wealthy Roman family, extrapolates to greater concern the corrupting influence that exotic imports have on Roman life. And finally, a half century later, Seneca examines how, over time, the fear of exotic influence morphed from a moral to a metaphysical concern; in his tragedy, the diverse Roman empire was the root of its demise. Taken together, these poems demonstrate that the Roman conception of exocitism was one in which foreign imports were symbols of power and terror; the Roman empire was something to be lauded and to be feared. 

We hope you enjoyed this poetic analysis of Roman exoticism! Please leave any comments, questions, or concerns below, and be sure to recommend future prose, poems, or topics for us to dive into!