Virgilian Plots: Public Ideologies and Private Journeys

Virgilian Plots: Public Ideologies and Private Journeys

Philip Hardie (Latin, Cambridge University)
April 19, 2016 / 5:30 PM
McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB

Late-antique Roman poets display a newly energized engagement with the classic poems of Virgil. Through a series of close readings this paper explores the various uses made in particular of Virgil’s epic the Aeneid both by poets writing within the tradition of pagan imperialism (Claudian, Rutilius Namatianus) and by poets who divert Virgilian messages to a Christian theology of history (Prudentius, Paulinus of Nola). The talk also examines the ways in which the Virgilian texts are used to articulate more personal and private hopes and trajectories.

Sponsored by  The Dept. of Classics, the Dept. of History, the Dept. of Religious Studies, and the IHC.