In spite of an increased interest over the last ten years in the 1st century AD Roman poet Valerius Flaccus, involving the production of several commentaries, part of his work Argonautica was still lacking a modern commentary. This book gives a full philological and literary commentary of the turbulent book VI of the Argonautica. The Silver Latin author's peculiar phraseology and choice of words is highlighted. Where possible the poem is interpreted in the context of the other Silver Latin epic poets.

The story of Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece is one of the oldest and most familiar tales in classical literature. Apollonius of Rhodes wrote the best-known version, in Greek, in the third century B.C.E. The Latin poet Gaius Valerius Flaccus began his own interpretation of the story in the first century of the Christian era, but he died before completing it. With The Voyage of the "Argo," the acclaimed poet and translator David Slavitt recovers for modern readers the only surviving work of this little-known writer. The result is an engaging rendition of Jason's adventures, of particular interest when compared to the Greek version of the story. While Apollonius' tale offers a subtle psychological study of Medea, Valerius Flaccus' achievement is to present Jason as a more complete and compelling heroic figure. Slavitt, for one, enjoyed the rediscovery immensely—and he invites his readers to do the same. "I am content to let my rendition into English speak for Valerius, but for those whom I imagine standing in an aisle of a library or bookstore, trying to decide, I can offer some reassurance. This piece is playful, unpredictable, oddly contrarian, sometimes almost mannerist. Valerius' description in book 8 of Medea's putting the serpent to sleep so Jason can filch the fleece involves a gesture no other Latin poet I know would have thought to try—a brief moment in Medea's head when she allows herself to feel sorry for the snake . . . It is this kind of droll surprise that drew me to undertake the translation of a work that is not, I freely confess, well known."—David Slavitt

This volume offers a new interpretation of Flaccus' Argonautica, a Latin epic poem. Stover's approach to the text is both formalist and historicist as he seeks not only to elucidate Flaccus' dynamic appropriation of Lucan, but also to associate the Argonautica's formal gestures within a specific socio-political context.

Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica is one of the most significant surviving works of Flavian epic, which has recently become much more popular as a field of study and teaching in Latin literature. This is the first commentary in English directly tailored to the needs of graduate and advanced undergraduate students. It provides an introduction to the major themes of the poem and the structure and content of Book III in particular which can function as an overview of the key features of Flavian epic. The detailed commentary on Book III discusses linguistic issues, intertextual and mythical allusions and thematic strands. The book consists of two major episodes in the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts which can be read together or independently of each other.

Brill’s Companion to Valerius Flaccus is the first English-language survey on all key aspects of this Flavian poet and his epic Argonautica (1st century CE). A team of international specialists offers both an account of the state of the art and new insights. Topics covered include textual transmission, language, poetic techniques, main themes, characters, relationship to intertexts and reception. This will be a standard point of departure for anyone interested in Valerius Flaccus or Flavian epic more generally. Contributors are: Antony Augoustakis, Michael Barich, Neil Bernstein, Emma Buckley, Cristiano Castelletti, James Clauss, Robert Cowan, Peter Davis, Alain Deremetz, Attila Ferenczi, Marco Fucecchi, Randall Ganiban, Mark Heerink, Alison Keith, Helen Lovatt, Gesine Manuwald, Ruth Parkes, Tim Stover, Ruth Taylor-Briggs, and Andrew Zissos.

The infamous and formidable mythological figure of Medea has deservedly held an enduring appeal throughout the ages. This has perhaps never been more true than in the Silver Age of Latin literature, when the taste for rhetorical excess and the macabre made the heroine, and especially her notorious acts of witchcraft and the slaughter of her own children in revenge for her husband’s infidelity, a particularly suitable and attractive topic for literary treatment. By examining the portrayal of this remarkable figure in the works of Ovid, Seneca and Valerius Flaccus, Virgo to Virago: Medea in the Silver Age offers a comprehensive study of the representation of the heroine, not only in this specific period, but in the entire Roman era, since these three authors provide the only substantial accounts of this figure to have survived in Classical Latin. Through close analysis of the texts, Virgo to Virago explores the characterisation of Medea, whose mythical life was inevitably overshadowed by her legendary behaviour, considering whether these accounts merely accord with the particular traits of the Silver Age, or whether this mighty female character has any claim to sympathy or admiration in these texts. The book simultaneously examines how the Latin authors compare with, and differ from, both one another and their extant Greek and Roman predecessors, concluding with a discussion of the significance of any comparisons to be drawn between these portrayals of the Roman Medea.

In 80 A.D., ten-year-old Roman sleuth Flavia and her friends sail from Corinth to Rhodes to try to stop a mysterious man who is kidnapping children and selling them into slavery.

This work provides a full commentary on the first book of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, an epic which has received increased attention in the last few decades, as may be seen from two recent editions (1997 and 2003). Its first aim is to clarify the text, which is sometimes rather difficult and, in places, still not established with certainty. Apart from this philological aspect, the literary merits of the poem have also been taken into account.

It discusses, inter alia, the limited evidence for Valerius' life; the main features of his often difficult poetic language; the handling of the Argonautic myth in literature prior to Valerius; his innovative treatment of the inherited material; and his self-positioning within the broader literary tradition, particularly his sophisticated adaptation of formal and thematic elements from his two principal poetic models, Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica and Virgil's Aeneid. While the commentary is written for readers with some competence in Latin, the introduction, and the facing English translation, are thoroughly accessible to non-Latinate readers with an interest in Roman literature and in the ancient epic tradition."--BOOK JACKET.