Abstract
The article is devoted to the study of the storyline by Athenaeus (VI. 105). Analysis of the context of the events reported by Athenaeus suggests that the ancient author writes about Scipio Aemilianus, who in 141 BC participated in the Roman embassy in Alexandria. The ruler of Egypt at that time was Ptolemy VII, the youngest son of Ptolemy V and Cleopatra I. The problem of sources of Athenaeus remains controversial. Most likely, he used the work of Posidonius, although we cannot exclude the infl uence of Polybius and Plutarch. The text includes two parts, connected separate stories: the fi rst describes the embassy of Scipio Aemilianus in Egypt; the second contains the history of the slaves as example of “mos maiorum”. The work of Posidonius contained storyline about the journey of Scipio to Egypt. The second part is a folk story that is based on the episode of the life of Cato the Elder. It is diffi cult to determine the time of the connection of two stories. The author suggests that the connection point was of historical and geographical space, which united the key episodes of the biographies of protagonists (the Spanish campaign of 195 BC and the Numantine War of 134 BC).
Keywords
Ancient Rome, Scipio Africanus, Cato Major, Ptolemy VII, ancient historiography, folk story.
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