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 Introduction : Flavian epic Renaissance (1990-2015) / Antony Augoustakis -- Ratis audax : Valerius Flaccus' bold ship / Martha A. Davis -- Virgilianisms in Valerius Flaccus : a contribution to the study of epic language in the imperial age / Roberta Nordera -- The restoration of ancient models : epic tradition and mannerist technique in Valerius' Argonautica 6 / Marco Fucecchi -- Allusion and narrative possibility in the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus / Andrew Zissos -- Parce metu, Cytherea : 'failed' intertext repetition in Statius' thebaid, or, don't stop me if you've heard this one before / Debra Hershkowitz -- Ovid'sTheban narrative in Statius' thebaid / Alison Keith -- Statius' hypsipyle : following in the footsteps of Virgil's Aeneid / S. Georgia Nugent -- Lacrimabile nomen archemorus : the babe in the woods in Statius' thebaid 4-6 / Joanne Brown -- Auferte oculos : modes of spectatorship in Statius' Thebaid 11 / Neil W. Bernstein -- Competing endings : re-reading the end of Statius' Thebaid through Lucan / Helen Lovatt -- Essential epic : genre and gender from Macer to Statius / Stephen Hinds -- Silius' Rome : the rewriting of Vergil's vision / Arthur Pomeroy -- Color Ouidianus in Silius' / Richard T. Bruére -- Lugendam formae sine uirginitate reliquit : reading Pyrene and the transformation of landscape in Silius' punica 3 / Antony Augoustakis -- Per uulnera regnum : self-destruction, self sacrifice, and Deuotio in Silius' Punica 4-10 / Raymond Marks -- Echoes of the contemporary world in Silius Italicus / Alessandro Mezzanotte
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