Quando fare festa è politico: βωμολοχία, ebbrezza e vita inimitabile in Marco Antonio

Moving from a rare example of enamel-painted glass – dated back to the late 1st century BC and likely of Egyptian origin – the text offers a reflection on the different political perspectives of management of power that for a short period loomed and faced each other in the Roman reality of the same era, with equal potential for development. The glass is, in fact, a precious cup portraying a night scene with a man and a woman, both crowned with flowers and looking as if inebriated: in the mostly damaged condition of the Greek inscriptions on it – which could explain the context of the image – one possible hypothesis is that it represents Mark Antony and Cleopatra, well known for – as Plutarch remembers, and even beloved by people because of – their nocturnal, festive escapades in Alexandria. The glass offers therefore an opportunity for reflection on the comparison between the Oriental, Dyonisian new vision of power offered by Antony, and the conservative, Apollonian vision advocated by Octavian.