The Satyricon was written around 61 AD by Gaius Petronius,
the emperor Nero's advisor in matters of luxury and extravagance. As was expected of his office Petronius lead a luxurious
lifestyle, sleeping during the day ad partying at night. He was well known for his love of style, manners and literature
and his personality was characterized by freedom, a lack of self-consciousness, a loose tongue and an attitude.
The Satyricon stands alone in literature as unconventional and unique
as it touches on almost every topic including small-town life and ordinary people. Its characters are most likely based on
real people, with Trimalchio's house bearing a resemblance to Nero's court.
The Satyricon is a very long piece of work, of which we only have fragments. The Cena being one
of the longer fragments with its survival implying that people have been enjoying it as a separate story for a long time.
Petronius probably read the story in installments to his friends, most likely in the court of Nero.
As the title suggests, the Satyricon is a Satire. Petronius satirizes
anything and everything with 'good' taste being the only standard. The story, however, is not a moralistic one intending
to produce reform, as we often believe all satires to be. More specifically, the Satyricon is a Menippean satire. This type
of satire, originally used for a humorous discussion of philosophy using both prose and verse, is characterized by the use
if many different styles. In this particular Menippean satire we find all kinds of forms including proverbs, verse, interpolated
stories and varied levels of language ranging from the very vulgar to the very elegant.
The sub-stories, told by Trimalchio's guests are part of the genre called Milesian tales. These
tales are funny, often questionable stories which have a great amount of variety and incongruity in their plots as well as
great disgressions.
The Styricon is set in Campania,
the region around Naples and Mt. Vesuvius. The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD gives us an advantage in the fact that there
are a great deal of antiquities of this date preserved by mud or ash. This means that we can use these resources to help
us learn about life in Mediterranean countries at this time which enables us to visualize what life would have been like for
Petronius and the characters of the Satyricon
