Il liberto greco in cerca di un’identità romana: autorappresentazione e programma letterario in Fedro

Through the analysis of significant passages of prologues, epilogues and some fables of Phaedrus, this paper shows how the author constructs a ‘mixed’ cultural identity, strictly oriented to achieving his literary project: a freedman who is proud of his ‘almost Greek’ origins, but at the same time aspires to see his project of versification and Romanization of the humble Aesopic fable recognized and appreciated in the hostile intellectual circles of Rome. This type of self-representation and literary choice shows interesting analogies with the re-establishment of other ‘minor’ genres in a Roman key, i.e. Martial’s epigram and Apuleius’ novel. It also allows Phaedrus to adopt a ‘low’ perspective (similar to that of Martial the cliens and the Apuleian ass), which determines a focalization on relationships between different cultures and social classes, and between the center and periphery of the empire.