Flavian Epic

Edited by Antony Augoustakis

Oxford Readings in Classical Studies

The first collection of the most influential modern scholarly writings on Flavian epic poetry, updated to reflect recent research and academic work
Includes essays translated to English for the first time
Covers a broad range of topics, including intertextuality, gender, poetics, and the social and political context of the period
Features in-depth analysis of individual poems

Flavian Epic

Edited by Antony Augoustakis

Oxford Readings in Classical Studies

Description

The epics of the three Flavian poets--Silius Italicus, Statius, and Valerius Flaccus--have, in recent times, attracted the attention of scholars, who have re-evaluated the particular merits of Flavian poetry as far more than imitation of the traditional norms and patterns. Drawn from sixty years of scholarship, this edited collection is the first volume to collate the most influential modern academic writings on Flavian epic poetry, revised and updated to provide both scholars and students alike with a broad yet comprehensive overview of the field.

A wide range of topics receive coverage, and analysis and interpretation of individual poems are integrated throughout. The plurality of the critical voices included in the volume presents a much-needed variety of approaches, which are used to tackle questions of intertextuality, gender, poetics, and the social and political context of the period. In doing so, the volume demonstrates that by engaging in a complex and challenging intertextual dialogue with their literary predecessors, the innovative epics of the Flavian poets respond to contemporary needs, expressing overt praise, or covert anxiety, towards imperial rule and the empire.

Flavian Epic

Edited by Antony Augoustakis

Oxford Readings in Classical Studies

Preface
List of Abbreviations
Text and Translations Used
1. Introduction: Flavian Epic Renaissance, Antony Augoustakis
A. Valerius Flaccus
2. ratis audax: Valerius Flaccus' Bold Ship, Martha A. Davis
3. Virgilianisms in Valerius Flaccus: A Contribution to the Study of Epic Language in the Imperial Age, Roberta Nordera
4. The Restoration of Ancient Models: Epic Tradition and Mannerist Technique in Valerius' Argonautica 6, Marco Fuecchi
5. Allusion and Narrative Possibility in the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus, Andrew Zissos
B. Statius
6. parce metu, Cytherea: Failed Intertext Repetition in Statius' Thebaid, or, Don't Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before, Debra Hershkowitz
7. Ovid's Theban narrative in Statius' Thebaid, Alison Keith
8. Statius' Hypsipyle: Following in the Footsteps of Virgil's Aeneid, S. Georgia Nugent
9. lacrimabile nomen Archemorus: The Babe in the Woods in Statius' Thebaid 4-6, Joanna Brown
10. auferte oculos: Modes of Spectatorship in Statius' Thebaid 11, Neil Bernstein
11. Competing Endings: Re-reading the End of Statius' Thebaid through Lucan, Helen Lovatt
12. Essential Epic: Genre and Gender from Macer to Statius, Stephen Hinds
C. Silius Italicus
13. Silius' Rome: The Rewriting of Virgil's Vision, Arthur Pomeroy
14. Color Ovidianus in Silius' Punica, Richard T. Bruere
15. lugendam formae sine uirginitate reliquit: Reading Pyrene and the Transformation of Landscape in Silius' Punica 3, Antony Augoustakis
16. per uulnera regnum: Self-destruction, Self-sacrifice and Deuotio in Punica 4-10, Raymond Marks
17. Echoes of the Contemporary World in Silius Italicus, Alessandro Mezzanotte
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index Locorum
General Index

Flavian Epic

Edited by Antony Augoustakis

Oxford Readings in Classical Studies

Author Information

Antony Augoustakis is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Centennial Scholar. He is also President Elect of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (USA) for 2015-2016 and an Associate Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study at Illinois.

Contributors:

Antony Augoustakis
Neil Bernstein
Joanne Brown
Richard T. Bruère
Martha A. Davis
Marco Fuecchi
Debra Hershkowitz
Stephen Hinds
Alison Keith
Helen Lovatt
Raymond Marks
Alessandro Mezzanotte
Roberta Nordera
S. Georgia Nugent
Arthur Pomeroy
Andrew Zissos

Flavian Epic

Edited by Antony Augoustakis

Oxford Readings in Classical Studies

Reviews and Awards

"this volume will appeal both to seasoned Flavian scholars and to students relatively new to the discipline who are seeking to gain an understanding of how Flavian epic functions in general ... It will be an important addition to many Flavian scholars' bookshelves and will, hopefully, prompt a similar level of self-reflection with respect to the direction in which our own work is heading." -- Claire Stocks, Hermathena

"...overall Antony Augoustakis' edition is just what the series promises - a well-produced, coherent and representative collection of, introduction to and reflection upon the last sixty years of Flavian scholarship." --Simone Finkmann, Byrn Mawr Classical Review

"this is a well-thought collection, extremely useful for students and scholars, either as an introduction to Flavian studies or as a consultation volume for its variety of approaches and extensive bibliography." --Dalida Agri, Classical Journal Online