Visualizing the Poetry of Statius: An Intertextual Approach(449 Mnemosyne, Supplements)

Scholars have long noted the strikingly visual aspects of Statius’ poetry. This book advances our understanding of how these visual aspects work through intertextual analysis. In the Thebaid, for instance, Statius repeatedly presents “visual narratives” in the form of linked descriptive (or ekphrastic) passages. These narratives are subject to multiple forms visual interpretation inflected by the intertextual background. Similarly, the Achilleid activates particularly Roman conceptions of masculinity through repeated evocations of Achilles’ blush. The Silvae offer a diversity of modes of viewing that evoke Roman conceptions of gender and class.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Statius and the Visual  1 Ekphrasis  2 Theories of Vision  3 Statius and Vision 1 Statius’ Catalogue and Tragic Visuality  1 Aeschylus’ Shield Scene  2 Statius and Aeschylus  3 Visual Responsion in Statius’ Catalogue  4 Statius and Euripides  5 The Female Gaze in Statius’ Catalogue  6 Statius and Athenian Tragedy 2 Statius’ Catalogue and Epic Visuality  1 Visual Prologues  2 Strategies of Sequencing  3 Statius and the Homeric Catalogue of Ships  4 Statius and Vergil’s Catalogue of Italians  5 Statius’ Murals: Hippomedon  6 Statius’ Murals: Capaneus  7 Vergil and Homer in Statius’ Catalogue 3 Ekphrasis, Adultery, and Metanarrative  1 Vulcan’s Workshop  2 Harmonia’s Necklace  3 Venus’ Speech  4 The Temple of Mars  5 The House of Sleep  6 Narrative Implications  7 Visual Implications 4 Statius’ Shields  1 The Shield of Theseus  2 Theseus’ Shield, Crete, and the Aeneid  3 Theseus’ Shield, Bulls, and Catullus  4 Theseus’ Shield and Visuality  5 The Shield of Crenaeus  6 Ismenos and the Thebaid  7 Vision and Crenaeus’ Shield  8 Visualizing Epic 5 Achilles’ Blush  1 Seneca and Others on the Blush  2 In Chiron’s Cave  3 Achilles Sees Deidamia  4 Achilles Transformed  5 Arms and the Boy  6 The Anger of Achilles  7 Reading the Blush 6 Silvae 1.1 and the Visuality of Empire  1 Epic Visuality  2 Divine Artistry  3 Illusion  4 Human Artistry  5 The Visuality of Empire  6 Conclusion 7 Silvae 4.6 and the Visuality of Satire  1 Ekphrastic Satire?  2 Colossus and “Colossus”  3 Epigram at the Table  4 Epic Visuality, Again  5 Conclusion 8 Visualizing the Good Life: the Villa Poems  1 Statius and Horace: Silv. 1.3  2 Silvae 2.2: Lyric Visuality  3 Silv. 2.2: Epic Visuality  4 Conclusion 9 Statius and the Erotic Gaze  1 The Bath of Claudius Etruscus  2 The Tree of Atedius Melior  3 Conclusions Conclusion: Statius’ Visual Poetics  1 Thebaid  2 Achilleid  3 Silvae  4 Dracontius and the Deviant Viewer  5 Claudian and the Adultery Metanarrative  6 The Achilleid in Claudian and Dracontius  7 Ausonius and the Silvae Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Christopher Chinn, PhD (2002), University of Washington, is Associate Professor of Classics at Pomona College (Claremont, CA, USA). He has published numerous articles and chapters on Imperial Latin literature, especially Statius and Pliny.

Review :
"the book will be of great interest to scholars with an interest in Statius generally, visuality, and the culture of viewing in Flavian Rome." Samuel Douglas in BMCR (2023.03.07).