The Poet Dracontius and his Satisfactio: Latin Poetry as an Instrument of Political Propaganda in the Vandal Kingdome)
The Poet Dracontius and his Satisfactio: Latin Poetry as an Instrument of Political Propaganda in the Vandal Kingdome)

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the problem of representing the politicalideology of the Vandal kingdom in North Africa (429-534) in the Latin literature ofthe second half of the 5th century, in particular, in the creative work of theCarthaginian poet Blossius Aemilius Dracontius. The panegyric that he wrote,known under the title Satisfactio, is a major source of studies on the politicalpropaganda of that period, its content, origins and aims. The main conclusion is that,in shaping his own political doctrine Dracontius, while relying on the “Romanmodel” in building the image of an ideal ruler (Vandal king) after the fashion of theLate Antique tradition, did not copy it blindly; rather, he added to it some newelements not quite characteristic of it such as, in particular, references to Biblicalpersonages—Old Testament kings, thus having become himself inscribed in thattradition as an independent unit and influenced its subsequent development. Thearticle also offers a few remarks concerning the discussion about the time ofappearance of this text, as well as another panegyric by Dracontius, which has notsurvived and which was dedicated to an “unknown ruler,” dominus ignotus, andtheir possible addressees.

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