107-259 Roman Epic

see Prerequisites

This subject examines the epic poetry of Rome. Building on the Homeric epic tradition, Hellenistic and Roman authors fashioned a genre which reflected and commented on their own political and social surroundings. Myth and history, war and love, the human and the divine are all intertwined to produce complex explorations of their contemporary society and the psyche of the individual. This subject enables students to place these literary texts within their sociopolitical context and identify the insights they provide into the dynamics of Roman culture. Texts studied include Apollonius' Argonautica, Virgil's Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and Lucan's Civil War.