Between Decadence and Humanism in Athens and Rome

The tension between creators and society in Athens in the 5th century BC led to the emergence of ideological phenomena akin to European decadence, but the course of ideas here invariably remained closely linked to the common life of the state. With the rise of Macedonia, Athens loses its true independence, and the space for public life is markedly reduced. However, the new Attic comedy and the work of Menander in particular reveal a development not in the decadent, but in the humanistic direction, which can be partly explained in terms of the deliverance of Athens from the burden of imperialism. In Rome, decadent gestures are characteristic of representatives of power and rulers with a low level of legitimacy — such as Sulla, Caligula, and Nero. In Roman literature, the closest to European decadence is Petronius’ Satyricon, where immoralism and aestheticism appear hand in hand. At the same time, Petronius is in a sense an unwilling decadent; his work is connected with the impossibility of following his own largely classicist ideals.