Silius Italicus and the Tradition of the Roman Historical Epos

The aim of this volume is to study Silius’ poem as an important step in the development of the Roman historical epic tradition. The Punica is analyzed as transitional segment between the beginnings of Roman literature in the Republican age (Naevius and Ennius) and Claudian’s panegyrical epic in late antiquity, shedding light on its ‘inclusiveness’ and its peculiar, internal dialectic between antiquarian taste and problematic actualization. This is an innovative attempt to connect epic poems and authors belonging to different ages, to frame the development of the literary genre, according to its specific aims and interests throughout the centuries.

Antony Augoustakis is Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Urbana, Illinois, US. His research interests include Latin imperial epic, Roman comedy and historiography, women in antiquity, classical reception, and gender theory. He is the author of many monographs and edited volumes on various topics in classical literature.

Marco Fucecchi is Associate professor of Latin language and literature at the University of Udine (Italy). His research interests include Latin literature from the Augustan age to the Ist century CE, with particular regard to epic poetry. He is the author of some monographs on Flavian epic poems (Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica and Silius’ Punica) as well as many articles on various topics in Latin literature.

Contributors are Thomas Baier, Neil W. Bernstein, Sergio Casali, Paolo Esposito, Filippo Fabbri, Alison Keith, Nicola Lanzarone, Gesine Manuwald, Raymond Marks, Stefano Poletti, Angeliki N. Roumpou, Clayton Schroer, Claire Stocks.

"The editors write that they “hope that this collection will continue the discussion of the tradition of historical epic poetry in Rome and open up further avenues of research on Silius Italicus and the Punica in the future” (p. 15). I think they have absolutely succeeded in this regard. [...] To sum up, this book is highly recommended for everyone dealing with Latin literature. I am sure that students and scholars will benefit enormously from this volume and I am confident that Silius Italicus’ poem will continue to reaffirm his position within the academic curriculum." Vicente Flores Militello, BMCR 2023.03.10.