Palladia Tolosa : fantaisie de poète ou évergésie impériale ?

Abstract

How can we understand the grouping of words Palladia (…) Tolosa operated by Martial in an epigram dating from AD 94 ? According to the traditional thesis, such a phrase has been created in well-read circles and is but a poetic equivalent for “Toulouse, a city of culture”. That interpretation has been assumed by Michel Labrousse (1968), and more recently by Patrick Le Roux (2010). Without minimizing at all the cultural echoes awakened by the verbal group Palladia Tolosa since Late Antiquity, the author has defended (1989, 2002) and defends here, with new arguments, a view which seems to fit better the politico-religious actuality of a very special period. The promoters of the new title given to the city, a title at once wished by the Tolosan people and magnified by the poet, were the emperor himself, his ancient benefactor and now protégé Marcus Antonius Primus, and a leading citizen of Toulouse, Quintus Trebellius Rufus, whose career Domitian has transfigured.

Keywords

• Antonius Primus
• Domitian
• imperial benefits
• Martial
• Pallas Athena
• Toulouse