Statius

Part IV continues with Monica Gale on Lucretius' De rerum natura, Michael Putnam on Virgil's Aeneid, Carole Newlands on Ovid's Metamorphoses, Shadi Bartsch on Lucan's Pharsalia or Bellum civile, Andrew Zissos on Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, William Dominik on Statius' Thebaid and fragmentary Achilleid, Raymond Marks on Silius Italicus' Punica, Michael Barnes on Claudian's De Bello Gildonico, and Dennis Trout on Latin Christan epics of late antiquity. . . .

Part IV continues with Monica Gale on Lucretius' De rerum natura, Michael Putnam on Virgil's Aeneid, Carole Newlands on Ovid's Metamorphoses, Shadi Bartsch on Lucan's Pharsalia or Bellum civile, Andrew Zissos on Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, William Dominik on Statius' Thebaid and fragmentary Achilleid, Raymond Marks on Silius Italicus' Punica, Michael Barnes on Claudian's De Bello Gildonico, and Dennis Trout on Latin Christan epics of late antiquity. . . .

This is the introduction to the edited volume on "Family in Flavian Epic". It discusses the importance of family to both ancient literature and Roman society, with a particular focus on epic poetry of the Flavian period (AD69-96). It also provides the reader with an overview of the family relationships, recurrent themes, literary models, and links to contemporary (Flavian) concerns examined by each of the eleven contributions.

Publius Papinius Statius was one of the most important poets of the Flavian Age. His works (Thebais, Silvae and unfinished Achilleis) became the object of great interest of scholars. One of the issues of Statian poetry that was so far ignored by scholars was its image of the East and Easterners. Among them the Iranian world (first of all Parthian empire) is the one that deserves special interest because of the importance of relations between Rome and Parthia as well as the old literary tradition concerning Persia, Parthia etc. Although this matter is of marginal importance in Statius, there are a lot of references to Iranian themes in Thebais and Silvae. Some of them are connected with military and political relations with Rome (esp. the Armenian War in the times of Nero), while some refer to ethnographic tradition and traditional image of Achaemenid Persia. In these passages we can find great influence of Augustan poets, Horace in particular.

W wystąpieniu analizowałam dwa aspekty prezentacji głównego bohatera w "Achilleidzie" Stacjusza: postawiłam hipotezę, że już w I i II księdze,  dzięki sieci odwołań i aluzji, mamy do czynienia z prezentacją całości losów Achillesa, oraz poddałam ocenie obraz Achillesa jako bohatera paradoksalnego (dorosłego-dziecko, mężczyznę-kobietę, człowieka-bestię, bohatera epickiego-poetę).

In this talk I have discussed two aspects of Achilles' representation in "Achilleid": firstly, the suggestion that Book I-II contain in fact the entire life of Achilles, coded for the conscious and careful reader in the network of allusions, similes and associations; secondly, the image of Achilles as a paradoxical character (a boy and a warrior, a man and a girl, a human and a beast, a literray character and a poet).

This book is the first companion volume to be published on Statius. It provides a comprehensive overview of recent approaches to Statius, discusses the fundmental issues and themes of his poetry, and suggests new fruitful areas for research. All of his works are considered: the Thebaid, his longest extant epic; the Achilleid, his unfinished epic; and the Silvae, his collect short poetry. Particular themes explored include the social, cultural and political issues surrounding his poetry; his controversial aesthetic; the influence of his predecessors upon his poetry; and the scholarly and literary reception of his poetry in subsequent ages to the present.

Chapters by F. Ahl (Cornell), R. Ash (Oxford), A. Augoustakis (Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), V. Berlincourt (Geneva), N. Bernstein (Ohio), S. Braund (British Columbia), P. Chaudhuri (Dartmouth), C. Chinn (Pomona), N. Coffee (Buffalo, New York),  C. Criado (Santiago di Compostela), P. Davis (Adelaide), J. Dietrich (Australian National), W. Dominik (Otago), R. Edwards (Pennsylvania State), R. Ganiban (Middlebury), K. Gervais (Otago), B. Gibson (Liverpool), P. Heslin (Durham), H. Kaufmann (Oxford), H. Lovatt (Nottingham), New York), A. Marinis (Patra), D. Mengelkoch (Lake Forest), C. McNelis (Georgetown), L. Micozzi (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa), S. Myers (Virginia), C. Newlands (Colorado), V. Pagán (Florida), R. Parkes (Oxford) F. Ripoll (Toulouse II), P. Roche (Sydney), L. Roman (Memorial), G. Rosati (Udine), M. Rühl (Wuppertal).

Part IV continues with Monica Gale on Lucretius' De rerum natura, Michael Putnam on Virgil's Aeneid, Carole Newlands on Ovid's Metamorphoses, Shadi Bartsch on Lucan's Pharsalia or Bellum civile, Andrew Zissos on Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, William Dominik on Statius' Thebaid and fragmentary Achilleid, Raymond Marks on Silius Italicus' Punica, Michael Barnes on Claudian's De Bello Gildonico, and Dennis Trout on Latin Christan epics of late antiquity. . . .

In Silvae 2.1, Statius laments the premature death of the libertus Glaucias, the alumnus of Atedius Melior. This paper examines Statius' response to the rhetorical difficulties posed by Glaucias' status inconsistency and the ambiguous ethical value of fostering in the literary tradition. By presenting alternative models of status, Silvae 2.1 reflects the increasing social power of freedmen and their descendants. Through its representation of Melior's atypical response to orbitas (most attested adoptive and fostering relationships occurred between individuals of similar status), the poem also reflects contemporary demographic and social concerns.

This is the first critical study of Statius’ Thebaid to be published in monograph form in English in twenty years. It examines in detail the thematic design and intent of the Thebaid and considers the question of its contempor¬ary relevance. The book focuses exclusively on the central theme of power—how it is exercised on the supernatural and human levels and the consequences of its pursuit and abuse in terms of the human condition. An ensuing discussion explores the political undercurrents of the epic. This discussion is in four main parts: (1) Use and Abuse of Supernatural Power; (2) Pursuit and Abuse of Monarchal Power; (3) Conse¬quences of the Abuse of Power; and (4) Political Allusions to Contemporary Rome. The views expressed represent a fundamental departure from previous studies and constitute a critical reassessment of the Thebaid.

This article offers an exploration of the poetic and political significance of dysfunctional paternities in Statius' Thebaid. It argues that the description of the Thebaid's kings as problematic fathers reworks the antiheroic paradigm set by Ovid's Cadmus (Met. 3-4) into an "Oedipal pattern" scrutinising the interplay between intrafamilial violence and political chaos. While illuminating the Thebaid’s engagement with the ideological environments and generic anxieties of Flavian Rome, the examination of these narratives also displays Statius’ reworking of past literary models through a sophisticated use of verbal and semantic intertextuality.

This paper surveys the contrasting attitudes of Statius and Juvenal, two Flavian poets, towards Greek culture in Rome. Statius praises Greek culture: he emphasizes his own Greek origin, applauds Greek cultural elements in Rome and understands the Roman Empire as a Greco-Roman unity. On the other hand, Juvenal hates Greeks and everything Greek. He criticizes Greek habits and the use of the Greek language in home. Juvenal, in criticizing Greek culture, speaks not only in general terms, but is also referring specifically to Statius himself and his cultural environment.

En el presente trabajo se investigan las actitudes contrapuestas de dos poetas de época flavia, Estacio y Juvenal, sobre la cultura griega y sobre los inmigrantes griegos. Estacio, por su parte, exhibe una significativa helenofilia: enfatiza su propio origen griego, elogia los elementos culturales griegos insertos en la cultura romana y concibe la civilización romana como una unidad grecorromana. Por el contrario, Juvenal es helenófobo: critica las costumbres y la lengua difundida por los griegos en Roma. La aportación mayor del trabajo es postular que Juvenal, al criticar el elemento griego, no sólo habla en términos genéricos, sino que está aludiendo implícitamente a Estacio y a su entorno.

This article investigates Statius’ encomiastic strategies when praising the dead poet Lucan (Stat. Silv. 2.7). Though some of the common and conventional topoi of the laudatio are present here, the fact that Statius centres on Lucan’s image as a poet cannot but affect his choice of strategies. More specifically, he alludes to Lucan’s apotheosis, an allusion facilitated by the creation of a religious atmosphere, the introduction of the Muse Calliope and the use of established motifs from earlier literature, mingles Lucan’s persona with those of the protagonists of his epic, connects him to famous literary figures by way of intertextual allusions, places him on lists of persons with similar characteristics, where Lucan’s superiority is demonstrated and, in many different ways, highlights the literary principles of Lucan’s poetry. The information offered by Statius in the Preface to Book 2, i.e. that the poem was commissioned by Lucan’s widow Polla Argentaria, could explain his hyperbolical tone.