Reading Trojan Rome: illegitimate epithets, avatars, and the limits of analogy in Silius Italicus' Punica

Silius Italicus' Punica is about Roman identity, and one of his principal means of exploring that is through the complex negotiation of Rome's identity with Troy. This article examines two specific techniques which the epic employs: firstly, Silius' use of Trojan epithets for third-ce...

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Main Author: Cowan, R
Format: Book section
Language:English
Published: 2007
Subjects:
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author Cowan, R
author_facet Cowan, R
author_sort Cowan, R
collection OXFORD
description Silius Italicus' Punica is about Roman identity, and one of his principal means of exploring that is through the complex negotiation of Rome's identity with Troy. This article examines two specific techniques which the epic employs: firstly, Silius' use of Trojan epithets for third-century Roman characters, which by its very inappropriateness foregrounds the complex play of similitude and dissimilitude between the peoples and their cities; secondly, the example of how L. Aemilius Paulus, the consul who died at Cannae, is subtly like and unlike his Trojan forebear Hector, a relationship problematized by further intertextuality with Aeneas, Turnus, Pompey, and others, but one which has significant implications for the relationship between Hector's Troy and Paulus' Rome.
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spelling oxford-uuid:11faca95-f158-4cef-a109-48b676c15baf2022-03-26T10:05:17ZReading Trojan Rome: illegitimate epithets, avatars, and the limits of analogy in Silius Italicus' PunicaBook sectionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_3248uuid:11faca95-f158-4cef-a109-48b676c15bafHistory of the ancient worldEnglishOxford University Research Archive - Valet2007Cowan, RSilius Italicus' Punica is about Roman identity, and one of his principal means of exploring that is through the complex negotiation of Rome's identity with Troy. This article examines two specific techniques which the epic employs: firstly, Silius' use of Trojan epithets for third-century Roman characters, which by its very inappropriateness foregrounds the complex play of similitude and dissimilitude between the peoples and their cities; secondly, the example of how L. Aemilius Paulus, the consul who died at Cannae, is subtly like and unlike his Trojan forebear Hector, a relationship problematized by further intertextuality with Aeneas, Turnus, Pompey, and others, but one which has significant implications for the relationship between Hector's Troy and Paulus' Rome.
spellingShingle History of the ancient world
Cowan, R
Reading Trojan Rome: illegitimate epithets, avatars, and the limits of analogy in Silius Italicus' Punica
title Reading Trojan Rome: illegitimate epithets, avatars, and the limits of analogy in Silius Italicus' Punica
title_full Reading Trojan Rome: illegitimate epithets, avatars, and the limits of analogy in Silius Italicus' Punica
title_fullStr Reading Trojan Rome: illegitimate epithets, avatars, and the limits of analogy in Silius Italicus' Punica
title_full_unstemmed Reading Trojan Rome: illegitimate epithets, avatars, and the limits of analogy in Silius Italicus' Punica
title_short Reading Trojan Rome: illegitimate epithets, avatars, and the limits of analogy in Silius Italicus' Punica
title_sort reading trojan rome illegitimate epithets avatars and the limits of analogy in silius italicus punica
topic History of the ancient world
work_keys_str_mv AT cowanr readingtrojanromeillegitimateepithetsavatarsandthelimitsofanalogyinsiliusitalicuspunica