Vergil's Aeneid and the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius (ARCA, Classical and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs)

Virgil's debt to Homer is well known but, as this detailed and specialised analysis demonstrates, Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica , itself influenced by Homer, was a more immediate source. Assuming prior knowledge of the texts, Greek and Latin, Damien Nelis scrutinises and compares specific episodes, characters or passages of text from Virgil, Apollonius and Homer, providing a fresh perspective on all three authors, and looks for the reasoning behind Virgil's choice of sources. Extracts in Greek and Latin. "This study of the Aeneid's indebtedness to the Argonauica of Apollonius Rhodius follows on from G.N. Knauer's monumental study of Homeric influence on Vergil, Die Aeneis und Homer (1964). But extra levels of complexity are involved. Apollonius himself was engaged in multilevel imitation of Homer, as Nelis demonstrates in considerable detail. A deep understanding of Apollonius' interaction with Homer is essential for the exploration of how Vergil, in full awareness of Apollonius' use of Homer, reworked the Argonautica. Structurally also the Aeneid adapts not only the broad outlines of the Iliad and of the Odyssey, but also and simultaneously that of the Argonautica. A study of the Aeneid in relation to the Argonautica must therefore also be a study of the Argonautica in relation to the Homeric poems: and our understanding of Vergil's imitation of Homer is profoundly affected by the Apollonian dimension." "Nelis thus gives perhaps the most exhaustive treatment to date of the technique of multi-tier allusion. Nobody with an interest in Homer, Apollonius or Vergil, or in ancient techniques of literary imitation, can afford to ignore this work."--Jacket Virgil's debt to Homer is well known but, as this detailed and specialized analysis demonstrates, Apollonius RhodiusAe Argonautica, itself influenced by Homer, was a more immediate source. Assuming prior knowledge of the texts, Greek and Latin, Damien Nelis scrutinizes and compares specific episodes, characters or passages of text from Virgil, Apollonius and Homer, providing a fresh perspective on all three authors, and looks for the reasoning behind Virgil's choice of sources. Extracts in Greek and Latin.