Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Argonautica (Valerius Flaccus) Tekstuitgaven'

The text used throughout is that of W. W. Ehlers (Stuttgart 1980) and a separate version is not established, though I have occasionally disagreed with Ehlers' choice of reading. The commentary deals with questions of interest as they arise, both textual and syntactical, literary and mythological. It seeks to show that Valerius was no unskilled versifier, and that problems of interpretation may be due to misunderstanding as much as to poor workmanship on the part of the poet. The introduction to each episode includes a detailed discussion of the mythological tradition, which reveals the limited extent of innovation by Valerius. The preliminary section on Valerius' literary qualities seeks to analyse questions of language and style that have emerged from the investigation in the commentary, concentrating in particular on the close relationship with Virgil's Aeneid. It concludes that Valerius was mistaken to concentrate on the long mythological epic as his talents clearly lay in the field of short descriptive poetry. The section on Valerius' use of his sources rejects the claim that he makes allusive use of Virgil, and briefly examines his debt to Apollonius, and the chronological relationship with Statius' Thebaid. The section on the manuscript tradition provides brief reasons for the acceptance of Ehlers' stemma (rather than Courtney's), differing only in acknowledging the existence of a separate French tradition and in placing greater weight on the authority of Carrio's old manuscript. The section concludes with a rapid survey of Valerius' influence on Medieval literature. An excursus is appended that traces the close relationship between the pictorial and literary versions of the Hesione story from the earliest examples until the time of Valerius and beyond.

In a literary era seemingly obsessed with transgression, Valerius’ own interest in the theme should come as no surprise. For the Romans, the Argo was the first ship in existence; thus the entire Argonautic enterprise is underpinned with transgression. This study sets out to interrogate the complex ways in which Valerius engages with transgression, offering new readings of his Argonautica in the process. He presents a world where expected boundaries are tested, or entirely collapsed, and where the characters and the narrator, grasping for something familiar upon which to hold, are left wanting. This thesis focuses on three major areas of enquiry, all fruitful in making useful conclusions when thinking about transgression in Valerius Flaccus. Firstly, the location of Jason and Medea’s wedding on the island of Peuce is examined, a seemingly insignificant departure from Apollonius Rhodius’ narrative. In fact, a number of transgressive issues are conflated at the point at which their marriage begins, enhancing the sense of unease at the union. The second section springs from the transgressive nature of Peuce’s landscape itself, in that caves, whilst suitable for weddings and sometimes the site of rapes, are often the home of monsters. Monsters pervade the text, appearing at familiar junctures (such as the Harpies, Amycus, and the sown men), but also at unexpected moments, where, for example, gods display monstrous characteristics. The ocular activity of ‘real’ monsters is shown to foreshadow the same curious phenomenon in Medea herself. She is revealed to be a potently transgressive character, and in assuming the hybrid role of character in the work and Muse, she is able to step out of the poem into a position of narrative control. The final section considers the technological aspects of Valerius’ poem against a background of science fiction receptions of the Argonautic myth, all of which are particularly concerned with exploring ideas of technological advance. Modern science fiction writers such as H. G. Wells and Robert J. Sawyer ‘use’ Argonautic themes, imagery and motifs in their work to routinely explore the hazards of progress. These modern receptions allow us to revisit the ancient material Valerius’ Argonautica, and to see that a world without boundaries is not a consequence-free world, since the far-reaching ramifications of technological advance are brought sharply into focus when read through the ‘lens’ of science fiction. The Argonautica, a poem rich in transgressive themes, is a work which poses more questions than it answers. In that final quality, the significance and potency of its transgression is revealed.

This thesis adopts a mixed-method approach of quantitative and qualitative analysis to discuss the role of women, especially female speakers and addressees, in Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica. In addition to the traditional individual mortal and divine speech roles, discourse categories such as the influence of the Muses, the presentation of female personifications, female collectives, frame and inserted speakers, and goddesses in disguise are also taken into consideration. The study shows that, despite the shared subject matter and greatly overlapping ensemble of speakers, Valerius makes significant changes in nearly all categories of female speech representation. Valerius entirely omits some of Apollonius’ female speech acts, reduces speeches from oratio recta to mere speech summaries, replaces Greek goddesses with similar, but not equivalent Roman speakers, assigns new speech roles to previously silent female characters, adds important new episodes with female speakers that do not occur in Apollonius’ epic, changes the speech contexts, the conversational behaviour and the overall characterization of speakers – in isolated individual instances as well as in more complex character portrayals. Valerius even modifies or transfers entire discourse patterns such as conversational deceit in speech and silence, or divine disguise, from one speaker group to another, usually of the opposite sex. Valerius transforms the Apollonian arrangement of a male-dominated, 'epic' first half following the invocation of Apollo and a second female, 'elegiac' half with many female speech acts and epiphanies, after a revision of the narrator’s relationship with the Muses, into a more traditional portrayal of the Muses and a much more balanced occurrence and continued influence of female speakers. The different female voices of the Argonautica, especially Juno, can continuously be heard in the Flavian epic and provide the reader with an alternative perspective on the events. Even the less prominent female speakers are part of a well-balanced and refined structural arrangement and show influences of several pre-texts, which they sometimes self-consciously address and use to their advantage. There can be no doubt that, like Apollonius, Valerius does not merely use female speech acts to characterise the male protagonists, but follows a clear structuring principle. Whereas Apollonius in accordance with his revised invocation of the Muses concentrates the female speech acts in the second half of his epic, especially the final book, Valerius links episodes and individual characterizations through same-sex and opposite-sex speaker doublets and triplets that can be ascribed to and explained by Jupiter’s declaration of the Fata. From Juno’s unofficial opening monologue to Medea’s emotional closing argument, the female voice accompanies and guides the reader through the epic. The female perspective is not the dominant view, but rather one of many perspectives (divine, mortal, female, male, old, young, servant, ruler, et al.) that complement the primary viewpoint of the poet and the male, mortal protagonists and offer an alternative interpretation.

This thesis explores and analyses the narrative and thematic uses of death in two Latin mythological epics, in order to investigate the ways in which various deaths reflect or highlight the ideology inherent to each epic. Death is one of the fundamental realities of life, yet can occur in many different ways and be used for many different purposes in fiction. Its application and significance in epic is accordingly complex, reflecting both its literary and socio-historical contexts. Each chapter covers a different type of death (such as murder or war injury, for example), and, in each case, begins by concentrating on Virgil's Aeneid, before moving on to Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica. In doing so, the thesis explores how each author approached and utilised various forms of death for their various thematic, narrative and structural purposes within the poem, and then the extent to which the attitudes and thematic significance surrounding the deaths were affected by the contemporary social, historical and political landscape. Finally, how each author's use of death compares with the other is considered. I demonstrate that some of the similarities and differences between the depictions of death in the two epics are linked primarily to their respective thematic and narrative requirements. Other elements, however, such as a heightened focus on the (generally negative) consequences of absolute power in Valerius and Virgil’s thematic warnings against the assumption of too much power, can instead be traced directly to shifting socio-political and cultural influences within Roman society. It further becomes clear that, while both epics were written shortly after turbulent eras in history, the wider context of those periods ensures that each epic displays different approaches to the ideology and realities of death while nevertheless belonging to the same genre of mythological epic.

Cette thèse vise à préciser l’importance et le relief singulier que Valérius Flaccus donne aux figures du pouvoir monarchique dans les Argonautiques. Elle sollicite la vaste tradition littéraire antique portant sur les figures du bon roi et du tyran, ainsi que les représentations du pouvoir véhiculées par l’idéologie impériale, afin de déterminer quel regard spécifique ce poète porte sur une problématique universelle et quels procédés il met en œuvre pour rendre cette représentation originale et efficace. Ce travail, qui écarte tout parti pris référentiel,s’articule autour d’une étude des personnages.Le poète analyse les mécanismes de fonctionnement de la tyrannie. Il en souligne le caractère oppressant en faisant des tyrans les pivots de la narration épique et en théâtralisant fortement leurs apparitions, susceptibles de frapper le lecteur. Aux tyrans s’opposent de nombreux rois exerçant un pouvoir positif. Le poète grandit ces figures en les valorisant sur le plan éthique mais montre aussi de façon répétée leur chute ainsi que la stérilité de leur pouvoir afin de susciter la compassion du lecteur. L’élaboration du personnage de Jason se fait sur le même modèle que celle des bons rois. La mise en valeur des qualités du chef ne rend que plus saisissante sa déchéance future, sans cesse annoncée. L’inquiétude et le pessimisme se dégagent donc de cette représentation du pouvoir royal, conçu sous sa forme pervertie, la tyrannie, ou associé à la décadence.Cette thèse permet d’ajouter une contribution à l’histoire des représentations et de prendre la mesure des évolutions du genre épique, qui fait alors une place importante à la tragédie et aux effets pathétiques
This thesis aims to specify the importance and the unique depth Valerius Flaccus gives to the figures of monarchic power in the Argonautica. It calls on the vast antique literary tradition which deals with the figures of the good king and the tyrant, as well as the representations of power carried by the imperial ideology, in order to determine what specific look this poet takes on an universal issue and what literary devices he uses to make this representation original and efficient. This work that rejects every referential bias is based on a study of the characters. The poet analyses how tyranny works. He underlines its oppressive nature by making tyrants the pivots of epic narration and by strongly dramatizing their appearances, which is likely to strike the reader. Numerous kingsembodying a positive power contrast with tyrants. The poet enhances these figures valuing them from an ethic point of view. But he also repeatedly shows their falls as well as the sterility of their power in order to arouse thereader’s sympathy. To elaborate the character of Jason he proceeds in the same way as for the good kings.Emphasizing the qualities of the leader makes his constantly announced future decline all the more striking andmoving. Anxiety and pessimism prevail in the representation of royal power, which is seen in its corrupted form,tyranny, or associated to decline.This thesis contributes to the history of representations and makes it possible to assess the evolutions of the epicgenre, which then affords an important place to tragedy and pathetic effects

Si l'univers moral des épopées flaviennes s'inscrit pour l'essentiel dans la continuité de l’Enéide, la conception de l'éthique héroïque qui s'en dégage témoigne d'une évolution spirituelle ainsi que d’une volonté d'émulation littéraire. L'unité thématique des argonautiques repose sur les tribulations d'une communauté héroïque en marche vers l'immortalité promise au mérite, celle des punica sur la résurrection et l'enrichissement de la uirtus romana par l'épreuve du bellum punicum, et celle de la thébaïde sur la destruction d'un héroïsme primitif dans la tragédie de la guerre fratricide avant l'avènement d'un héroïsme épique purifié et rénové incarné par Thésée. Le providentialisme mystique de Virgile, fondé sur la pietas entendue comme adhésion consciente au plan divin, tend à céder la place à une affirmation accrue d'autres valeurs héroïques telles que la gloria, la fides et la iurtus, éventuellement prolongées (chez Silius et plus encore chez Stace) par une aspiration croissante à l'humanitas. L'influence stoïcienne (essentiellement cicéronienne chez Silius, seneco-lucanienne chez Stace et Valerius) explique en partie cette moralisation et cette humanisation croissantes de l'idéal héroïque, dont l'Hercule du portique est le paradigme privilégié. Ce mouvement s'inscrit parfaitement dans le contexte de la restauration morale flavienne, sans pour autant faire de ces épopées des œuvres de propagande
Although the moral system of the flavian epics is for the broadest part indebted to the Aeneid, their heroic ethics give evidence for spiritual evolution and literary emulation. The thematic consistency of the argonautica is founded on the trials of a group of heroes on their way towards immortality as a reward for valor. The punica are centred on the rebirth and improvement of roman iurtus through the trial of the punic war, and the thebaid describes the annihilation of a primitive heroism through the tragedy of fraternal strife, followed by the advent of a new purified heroism embodied by Theseus. Virgil's mystical providentialism, founded on pietas as a conscious fulfilment of divine will, has made the way for a greater stress laid on other values like gloria, fides and uirtus, allied (in Silius and above all in Statius), to a yearning for humanitas. Stoic influency (essentially deriving from Cicero in Silius and from Seneca and Lucan in Statius and Valerius) is partly responsible for this growing moralization and humanization of epic heroism, and the Hercules of the stoa is its most prominent model. This trend is in keeping with the mood of the flavian moral restoration, although political propaganda is obviously not the main purpose of these poems

Il saggio consta di introduzione generale, testo, commento: la prima parte studia la struttura del libro, traccia i profili dei protagonisti di Arg. VIII ed, infine, discute i problemi relativi allo stato di incompiutezza del poema. Al testo di Arg. VIII segue il commento, costituito da introduzioni particolari alle singole sezioni e scene in cui si suddivide il libro e da note lemmatiche di carattere linguistico, stilistico, filologico, prosodico e metrico. La tesi è corredata di bibliografia e indici (generale, dei notabilia e dei passi discussi).
The essay is formed by general introduction, text, commentary: the first part studies the structure of the book, characterizes the protagonists of Arg. VIII and, finally, discusses the problem of the incompleteness of the poem. After the whole text of book VIII, there is the commentary: it is made up of specific introductions to each section and scene of the book and of linguistic, stylistic, philological, prosodic and metrical notes to the text. The work is complete with bibliography and indexes (of the notabilia, of the quoted passages and of the whole essay).

Landscape in Roman literature is manifest with symbolic potential: in particular, Vergil and Ovid respond to ideologically loaded representations of abundance in nature that signal the dawn of the Augustan golden age. Vergil's Eclogues foreground a locus amoenus landscape which articulates both the hopes of the new age as well as the political upheaval that accompanied the new political regime; Ovid uses the same topography in order to suggest the arbitrary and capricious use of power within a deceptively idyllic landscape. Moreover, for Latin poets, depictions of landscape are themselves sites for poetic reflection as evidenced by the discussion of landscape ecphrases in Horace's Ars Poetica. My thesis focuses upon the depiction and refiguration of the locus amoenus landscape in the post-Augustan epics of the first century AD: Lucan's Bellum Civile, Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, Statius' Thebaid and Silius Italicus' Punica. Landscape in these poems retains the moral, political and metapoetic force evident in the Augustan archetypes. However, I suggest that Lucan's Neronian Bellum Civile fundamentally refigures the landscapes of Latin epic poetry, inscribing the locus amoenus with the nefas of civil war in such a manner that it redefines the perception of landscape in the succeeding Flavian poets. Lucan perverts the landscape, making the locus horridus, a landscape of horror, fear and disgust, the predominant landscape of Latin epic; consequently, the poems of Valerius, Statius and Silius engage with Lucan's refiguration of landscape as a means of expressing the horror of civil war. In the first part of my thesis I examine archetypal landscapes, including those of the Augustan poets and Lucan's Bellum Civile. Taking an approach which engages with literary reception theory and the concept of the â horizon of expectationâ as a framework within which literary topographies can be understood as articulating a response to the thematics of civil war, in the second part of my thesis I demonstrate the manner in which landscapes represent a coherent and paradigmatic response to Lucan's imposition of his civil war narrative within the literary landscape of Roman literature.