Tryphé (Greek: τρυφή) – variously glossed as "softness",[2] "voluptuousness",[3] "magnificence"[4] and "extravagance",[5] none fully adequate – is a concept that drew attention (and severe criticism) in Roman antiquity when it became a significant factor in the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty.[1] Classical authors such as Aeschines and Plutarch condemned the tryphé of Romans such as Crassus and Lucullus, which included lavish dinner parties and ostentatious buildings.[5] But there was more to Ptolemaic tryphé than dissipative excess, which after all can be pursued in residential or geographical seclusion, and for purely private purposes. It was a component of a calculated political strategy, in that it deployed not just conspicuous consumption but also conspicuous magnificence, beneficence and feminine delicacy, as a self-reinforcing cluster of signal propaganda concepts in the Ptolemaic dynasty.[1][4]
References
- ^ a b c Ager, Sheila (2006). "The Power of Excess: Royal Incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty". Anthropologica. 48 (2): 165–186. doi:10.2307/25605309. JSTOR 25605309.
- ^ Robins, Robert Henry (1993). The Byzantine grammarians: their place in history. Walter de Gruyter. p. 63. ISBN 978-3-11-013574-9.
- ^ Becker, Reinhard P. (1982). German humanism and reformation. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-8264-0251-6.
- ^ a b Chauveau, Michel (2000). Egypt in the age of Cleopatra: history and society under the Ptolemies. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-8014-8576-3.
- ^ a b Knust, Jennifer Wright (2006), "Extravagant excess", Abandoned to lust: sexual slander and ancient Christianity, Columbia University Press, p. 32, ISBN 978-0-231-13662-4
Bibliography
- Berno, Francesca Romana (2023). Roman Luxuria: a Literary and Cultural History (First ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192846402.
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