Publisher description

Although writing in Latin, Statius (first-century AD) was, by origin and training, a Greek poet, and his collection of "occasional" poems, the Silvae, are a Roman extension of contemporary trends in Greek display poetry. No reading of the Silvae can be accurate without an understanding of this Graeco-Roman poetic milieu. This book therefore begins with a reconstruction of the professional background to the Silvae - the festival circuit, the conditions of work for writers, their opportunities for advancement in the Greek and Roman worlds - both in the Hellenistic period and in the first century A.D. In this setting, display oratory and poetry are shown to have developed in parallel and to have had a profound mutual influence. Further chapters consider Statius' performances as a Neapolitan poet at Rome, his portrayal of his own society and his friends, and his attitudes to his Latin predecessors. Literary patronage, both imperial and private, is a vital element in Statius' poetic career, and Hardie goes on to investigate the identity and social standing of the addressees of the Silvae . He also considers the career of the contemporary epigrammatist Martial in comparison to that of Statius. Many essential features of Flavian taste emerge from these studies. Large-scale interpretations of individual poems are offered throughout this volume, making many new suggestions about both points of detail and the overall significance of the major poems in the Silvae . Statius and the Silvae is an important contribution to the debate on the relationship between poetry and rhetoric, and to the understanding of how society and literature interconnected in the Flavian age.

The Roman poet P. Papinius Statius (ca. 45-96) is the author of two epics (the "Thebaid" and the unfinished "Achilleid") and a large corpus of occasional verse ("Silvae"). This poetry, long seen as derivative or decadent, is increasingly appreciated for the daring and originality of its responses both to the Greek and Latin literary tradition and to the contemporary Roman world. This volume offers the papers delivered at a symposium on Statius (Amsterdam 2005) by leading scholars in the field from Europe and North America. These papers demonstrate the fascination of Statius' poetry on account of the poet's vast knowledge of Greek and Latin tragedy, his rapid narrative, psychological acumen, brilliant eulogies, and pessimistic views on gods and men. The focus of the collection is on literary technique in the "Thebaid," on socio-historical aspects of the "Silvae," and on the reception of Statius in European literature and scholarship.

Through a combined methodology of philology, social theory and archaeology this book offers a reinterpretation of Statius's Silvae.

Statius' Silvae, written late in the reign of Domitian (AD 81–96), are a new kind of poetry that confronts the challenge of imperial majesty or private wealth by new poetic strategies and forms. As poems of praise, they delight in poetic excess whether they honour the emperor or the poet's friends. Yet extravagant speech is also capacious speech. It functions as a strategy for conveying the wealth and grandeur of villas, statues and precious works of art as well as the complex emotions aroused by the material and political culture of empire. The Silvae are the product of a divided, self-fashioning voice. Statius was born in Naples of non-aristocratic parents. His position as outsider to the culture he celebrates gives him a unique perspective on it. The Silvae are poems of anxiety as well as praise, expressive of the tensions within the later period of Domitian's reign.

Includes Latin text of Silvae book II.

A study of the phenomenon of literary patronage, both non-imperial and imperial, during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian (81-96 A.D.). This work centres on the Epigrams of Martial and the Silvae of Statius. The book deals not only with the relationships between poets and patrons, but also with the audiences and the functions of patron-oriented poetry. It includes discussions of such topics as "patronage" versus "friendship", the poetic "I", the role of poetry at symposia and festivals, dedication and publication, the influence of rhetoric on poetry, and the poetic representation of imperial power. The book should prove of interest not only to specialists in Roman poetry, but also to ancient historians and to students of literary patronage in other cultures. All Latin and Greek is translated.

Statius' Achilleid is a playful, witty, and open-ended epic in the manner of Ovid. As we follow Achilles' metamorphosis from wild boy to demure girl to lover to hero, the poet brilliantly illustrates a series of contrasting codes of behaviour: male and female, epic and elegiac. This first full-length study of the poem addresses not only the narrative itself, but also sets the myth of Achilles on Scyros within a broad interpretive framework. The exploration ranges from the reception of the Achilleid in Baroque opera to the anthropological parallels that have been adduced to explain Achilles' transvestism. The study's expansive approach, which includes Ovid and Ovidian reception, psychoanalytic perspectives and theorizations of gender in antiquity, makes it essential reading not only for students of Statius, but for students of Latin literature, and of gender in antiquity.

The Thebaid, a Latin epic in twelve books by Statius (c. 45–96 C. E.) reexamines events following the abdication of Oedipus, focusing on the civil war between the brothers Eteocles, King of Thebes, and Polynices, who comes at the head of an army from Argos to claim his share of royal power. The poem is long—each of the twelve books comprises over eight hundred lines—and complex, and it exploits a broad range of literary works, both Greek and Latin. Severely curtailed though he was by the emperor Domitian and his Reign of Terror, Statius nevertheless created a meditation on autocratic rule that is still of political interest today. Popular in its own time and much admired in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance—most notably by Dante and Chaucer—the poem fell into obscurity and has, for readers of English, been poorly served by translators. Statius composed his poem in dactylic hexameters, the supreme verse form in antiquity. In his hands, this venerable line is flexible, capable of subtle emphases and dramatic shifts in tempo; it is an expressive, responsive medium. In this new and long-awaited translation the poet Jane Wilson Joyce employs a loose, six-beat line in her English translation, which allows her to reveal something of the original rhythm and of the interplay between sentence structure and verse framework. The clarity of Joyce's translation highlights the poem's superb versification, sophisticated use of intertextuality, and bold formal experimentation and innovation. A substantial introduction and annotations make this epic accessible to students of all levels.