Statius: Achilleid

by Dilke, O.A.W.; Cowan, Robert

• ISBN13: 9781904675112
• ISBN10: 1904675115
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-06
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Summary

Statius' Achilleid is perhaps the most remarkable of all Latin epic poems. Its project - to tell the whole life of Achilles - was cut short by the poet's untimely death. Yet the completed first book and the earliest part of the second have a charm and freshness matched only in some of Ovid's most lively and engaging work. The poem tells how the sea-nymph Thetis, in a vain attempt to save her son from his destined end in the Trojan war, hid him on the island of Scyros, disguised as a girl. There he fell in love with the beautiful Deidamia, but at the same time, with the idea of glory in war. His feminine disguise was eventually penetrated by Ulysses and Diomedes, who tricked him into exposure of his truly warlike aspirations. In relating this story Statius explores the nature of gender and the limits of the epic genre, while playfully and wittily positioning himself in the epic - and wider - poetic tradition. These themes are explored in a new introduction by Robert Cowan, which surveys the latest research on the poem. Its assessment, very much in the modern critical manner, contrasts with and complements the traditional textual and philological commentary by O.A.W. Dilke. The combination of these two distinct approaches will assist undergraduates and postgraduates in reading the text, and, at the same time, it will provide a valuable resource for the more advanced scholar.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION
Statius and the Achilleid	vii
Gender	ix
Genre	xiii
Intertextuality	xvii
Notes	xxi
Select Bibliography	xxiv
ORIGINAL PREFACE	xxvi
ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION
1 Life of Statius	3	(3)
2 Date of Composition of the Achilleid	6	(1)
3 Theme of the Achilleid	7	(1)
4 Synopsis	8	(2)
5 Sources	10	(2)
6 Language and Style	12	(3)
7 Grammar and Syntax	15	(3)
8 Character-drawing	18	(1)
9 Influence of Statius	18	(1)
10 Manuscripts	19	(6)
11 Bibliography	25	(6)
THE TEXT
Book I	31	(38)
Book II	69	(8)
NOTES	77	(76)
INDEX	153