Year: 2017
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This dissertation discusses the proem of Statius’ Thebaid (1.1-45) and the analysis of the \ntext is split between an introduction, three extended chapters and a lemmatized \ncommentary. Statius’ acknowledgements of his literary debts, in particular Virgil, \nencourages, if not demands, an intertextual reading of his poetry. As such, my first \nchapter, Literary Models, looks at how Statius engages with his epic models, namely \nHomer, Virgil, Lucan and Ovid, but also how he draws upon the rich literary Theban \ntradition. Like all Roman poets, Statius is highly self-conscious of his craft, and draws \nupon Hellenistic and lyric models to enrich his epic and define himself as an exemplary \npoet. I will argue that the proem offers a useful lens for analysing the Thebaid and \nintroduces his epic in exemplary fashion, in the sense that he draws attention to the \nconcept of opening his epic with the use of traditional tropes (namely, the invocation of \ninspiring force; a recusatio; an imperial encomium and a synopsis of the poem’s narrative). \nConsidering the importance of origins in the Thebaid, and the inability to escape them, I \nconsider the proem, in this sense, the origin of the poem itself insofar as elements of it \nare constantly ‘remembered’ and reiterated throughout the poem. The central feature of \nthe proem is the encomium to Domitian, in which Statius advises Domitian to realize his \nown limits and hence retain order of the world he rules over, articulating contemporary \nconcerns about succession and empire. Statius, in a similar manner, expresses intent to \nimpose limits upon his own poem, which prompted me to write the chapter entitled Restraint. The third chapter, Characterisation, draws upon the discussions in Literary Models and Restraint in an analysis of the heroes introduced at 1.41-45.
Author: James Manasseh
Language: English
Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies
Subfield: Classics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2743419086