Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica

This commentary on the first book of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica also includes an introduction, the text (with apparatus criticus) and a facing English translation. The commentary proper addresses narrower textual and semantic questions, on the one hand, and broader questions of stylistics, poetics, thematics, and cultural context on the other. Particularly close attention is paid to Valerius' choice of diction, his sophisticated use of figures and tropes, his often sly erudition, the recurring and strategic resort to subtle intertextual gestures and, where appropriate, the reception of his work in later authors. The substantial introduction provides an overview of the poet and his poem. 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.

Andrew Zissos is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of California, Irvine.