A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TOMIS CÉNACLE
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TOMIS CÉNACLE

Summary/Abstract: Even if we know very little about how literary ideas circulated in the old preRomanian world, we will prove here that the literary circle (cenacle/cénacle) was born in Tomis with Roman poet Ovid. Ovid had begun his public recitation of verse at about the age of eighteen, but he improved his art of reciting in Tomis, among Gets and Sarmats. It is often assumed that, during his exile in Tomis, Ovid wrote and recited poetry (now lost) in the Getic language, among barbarians. This oratorical event created the first attested literary circle (cenacle avant la lettre) in Tomis. After that magical and mythical origo, the local literary circle became patristic and then warrior-like and barbarian. At one moment, it became a post-modern event, but it still kept its nostalgia in the Paradise Lost…

• Details
• Contents