Silius Italicus: Punica, Book 3 - Edited With Introduction, Translation, and Commentary

The third book of Silius Italicus' Punica tells the story of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps during the Second Punic War. This new translation is accompanied by a commentary exploring the poem's poetic, philosophical, and historiographic background.

List of contents

• GENERAL INTRODUCTION


• 1. The Political Life and Literary Formation of Silius Italicus


• 2. Hannibal's Enterprise


• 2.1. In the Steps of Hercules?


• 2.2. In the Steps of Aeneas?


• 3. Hannibal and Imilce


• 4. Hannibal's Army


• 4.1. Historiographic Assessment and Poetic Distortion


• 4.2. Silius' Epic Catalogue of Hannibal's Troops


• 4.3. Icons of Imperialism in Hannibal's African and Iberian Troop Catalogues


• 4.4. The Significance of Iberia in the Catalogue


• 5. Hannibal's Alpine Crossing


• 5.1. Hannibal's Route and Recent Archaeological Evidence


• 5.2. Sublimity


• 5.3. Hannibal and Further Epicurean Postures


• 6. Divine Prophecy


• 6.1. Epic Closural Motifs


• 6.2. Jupiter and Venus


• 6.3. Hammon's Oracle


• 7. Language and Style


• 7.1. Diction and Figures of Speech


• 7.2. Epic Similes


• 7.3. Metre and Prosody


• 8. Text and Transmission


• SIGLA, TEXT, TRANSLATION, AND APPARATUS CRITICUS


• COMMENTARY

About the author

Antony Augoustakis is the author of Statius, Thebaid 8 (OUP, 2016), Motherhood and the Other: Fashioning Female Power in Flavian Epic (OUP, 2010) and Plautus' Mercator (Bryn Mawr, 2009). He has edited and co-edited several volumes on Flavian epic, Roman comedy, and Late Antiquity. He serves as editor of The Classical Journal.

R. Joy Littlewood has published commentaries on Ovid's Fasti Book 6 (OUP, 2006), Silius Italicus' Punica Book 7 (Oxford, 2011), and Punica 10 (Oxford, 2017). She has recently completed the fourth volume of J. C. McKeown's commentary on Ovid's Amores.

Summary

The third book of Silius Italicus' Punica tells the story of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps during the Second Punic War. This new translation is accompanied by a commentary exploring the poem's poetic, philosophical, and historiographic background.

Additional text

The commentary is very good on the many layers of intertextual echoes and references, as well as intratextual connections between Book 3 and the rest of the Punica. It will greatly help both students and scholars alike to appreciate the literary merits of this book.

Product details

• Authors: Antony Augoustakis, Antony (Professor and Head of Classic Augoustakis, Antony (Professor and Head of Classics Augoustakis, Augoustakis Antony, R. Joy Littlewood, R. Joy (Independent Scholar Littlewood, Littlewood R. Joy
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.03.2022
• EAN: 9780198821281
• ISBN: 978-0-19-882128-1
• No. of pages: 412
• Series: Oxford Commentaries on Flavian Poetry
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Humanities, art, music > History > Antiquity; POETRY / General, Latin, LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Ancient & Classical, Classical texts, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Literary studies: poetry & poets, Poetry by individual poets, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Literary studies: poetry and poets, BCE to c 500 CE, BCE period – Protohistory, Ancient, classical and medieval texts