The Satyricon

The Satyricon by Petronius Arbiter

Together with The Golden Ass of Apuleius, this is considered to be one of the few "novels" to have come down to us from ancient times. It shares many elements with the Golden Ass: it is a picaresque satirical romp through the bedrooms, taverns and temples of Ancient Rome. 

While only fragments of the Satyricon have survived, what we have chronicles the (mis-) adventures of Encolpius and his slave-boy and sometime-lover Giton. Some of the fragments are large enough to constitute stand alone novellas. The most famous of these is Trimalchio's Dinner, which is a hilarious send-up of Roman "Nouveau-riche" freedmen who, regardless of their wealth, were uneducated, vulgar, pompous show-offs whom the author obviously disdains. Some of the passages in the Dinner had me laughing out loud, and it is said to give some of the clearest insights into the life and speech of the "lower" (non-citizen) classes in Rome.

As in the case of "The Golden Ass", the Satyricon gives a picture of Ancient Rome that highlights its strangeness vis-a-vis our modern world: life was precarious, the gods and their cults were manifold and based more on magic than on faith in a higher being or a better world. Power and position drove sex and it was perilous for the lower status or weak, with dominance and submission being the operative dichotomy, not male/female or even heterosexual/homosexual.

All in all, a fascinating and somewhat disturbing glimpse into a distant world.