The Epic Journey in Greek and Roman Literature

Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-1-108-49809-8
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 39, 338 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 647 g

Reihe: Yale Classical Studies

This volume explores journeys across time and space in Greek and Latin literature, taking as its starting point the paradigm of travel offered by the epic genre. The epic journey is central to the dynamics of classical literature, offering a powerful lens through which characters, authors, and readers experience their real and imaginary worlds. The journey informs questions of identity formation, narrative development, historical emplotment, and constructions of heroism - topics that move through and beyond the story itself. The act of moving to and from 'home' - both a fixed point of spatial orientation and a transportable set of cultural values - thus represents a physical journey and an intellectual process. In exploring its many manifestations, the chapters in this collection reconceive the centrality of the epic journey across a wide variety of genres and historical contexts, from Homer to the moon.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Biggs, Thomas

Blum, Jessica

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Lyrik und Dichter
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Nachschlagewerke
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction Thomas Biggs and Jessica Blum; Part I. Odyssean Journeys: 2. In and out of the Golden Age – a Hesiodic reading of the Odyssey Egbert J. Bakker; 3. Pompe in the Odyssey Alexander C. Loney; 4. 'What country, friends, is this?' Geography and exemplarity in Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica Jessica Blum; Part II. Gendered Maps: 5. Wandering, love and home in Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica and Heliodorus' Aethiopica Silvia Montiglio; 6. Heroes and homemakers in Xenophon Emily Baragwanath; 7. Women's travels in the Aeneid Alison Keith; Part III. Rome's Journey – Construction of Rome through Travel: 8. Epic journeys on an urban scale – movement and travel in Virgil's Aeneid Timothy M. O'Sullivan; 9. Roman and Carthaginian journeys – Punic Pietas in Naevius' Bellum Punicum and Plautus' Poenulus Thomas Biggs; 10. Defining home, defining Rome – Germanicus' Eastern tour Cynthia Damon and Elizabeth Palazzolo; 11. Odyssean wanderings and Greek responses to Roman Empire Andrew C. Johnston; Part IV. Unearthly Journeys: 12. From Rome to the Moon – Rutilius Namatianus and the Late antique game of knowledge Martin Devecka 13. Looking back in wonder – contemplating Homer from the Iliad to Pale Blue Dot Karen ní Mheallaigh.

Über Autor(innen)

Biggs, Thomas
Thomas Biggs is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Georgia. He specializes in Roman literature and culture, especially poetry and poetics, and is completing a book on the First Punic War, the representation of history in Latin literature, and the development of the epic genre.

Blum, Jessica
Jessica Blum is Assistant Professor of Classical Studies at the University of San Francisco. Her research focuses on imperial Latin poetry and the epic tradition, and she is completing a monograph on the interaction of visual effects, genre, and discourses of exemplarity in Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, with a particular focus on the character of Hercules.