Tryphé

Tryphé (Greek: τρυφἠ) -- variously glossed as "softness",[2] "voluptuousness",[3] "magnificence"[4] and "extravagance",[5] none fully adequate—is a concept that drew attention (and severe criticism) in Roman antiquity when it became a significant factor in the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty.[1] Classical authors such as Aeschines and Plutarch condemned the tryphé of Romans such as Crassus and Lucullus, which included lavish dinner parties and ostentatious buildings.[5] But there was more to Ptolemaic tryphé than dissipative excess, which after all can be pursued in residential or geographical seclusion, and for purely private purposes. It was a component of a calculated political strategy, in that it deployed not just conspicuous consumption but also conspicuous magnificence, beneficence and feminine delicacy, as a self-reinforcing cluster of signal propaganda concepts in the Ptolemaic dynasty.[1][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Ager, Sheila (2006). "The Power of Excess: Royal Incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty". Anthropologica (Canadian Anthropology Society) 48 (2): 165–186. http://books.google.com/books?id=dJdErRqoBeQC&pg=PA178&dq=tryphe+ptolemaic&hl=en&ei=9RtMTauSB4KKvQOInPXZDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=tryphe%20ptolemaic&f=false. 
  2. ^ Robins, Robert Henry (1993). The Byzantine grammarians: their place in history. Walter de Gruyter. p. 63. ISBN 3110135744. 
  3. ^ Becker, Reinhard P. (1982). German humanism and reformation. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 58. ISBN 0826402518. 
  4. ^ a b Chauveau, Michel (2000). Egypt in the age of Cleopatra: history and society under the Ptolemies. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 44. ISBN 0801485762. 
  5. ^ a b Knust, Jennifer Wright (2006), "Extravagant excess", Abandoned to lust: sexual slander and ancient Christianity, Columbia University Press, p. 32, ISBN 9780231136624