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• Et Latrator Anubis: Egypt and Egyptian Deities in the Aeneid

  101–118.

  Lee Fratantuono

  Views:

  73

  Egypt and Egyptian deities play an important role in Virgil’s Aeneid, in which the epic poet celebrates the contemporary victory of Augustus over the forces of Cleopatra and her lover Antony. Close consideration of all the references to res Aegyptiacae in the poem reveals that Egyptian lore is important not only for the Virgilian hommage to Actium, but also for influencing the reader’s interpretation of the final scene in Book 12 between Aeneas and Turnus.

• Phoenician Vengeance: Dido, Anna, and the Lore of the Numicus

  5–19.

  Lee Fratantuono

  Views:

  118

  Scholarly attention has been paid to the depiction of the Carthaginian sisters Dido and Anna, particularly in Virgil’s fourth Aeneid. Close attention to the later portrayals of Anna in Ovid (Fasti 3) and Silius Italicus (Punica 8) reveals a portrayal of Dido’s sister as the unwitting agent of the fulfillment of the queen’s curse against Aeneas. The hitherto unappreciated connection between the festival of Anna Perenna and the date of the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar may be seen in light of Dido’s curse on Aeneas and the Julian gens descended from his son Iulus.

• Homer's First Battle Supplication and the End of Virgil's Aeneid

  53-66

  Lee Fratantuono

  Views:

  295

  One of the less appreciated literary influences on the Virgilian depiction of Aeneas' decision to slay Turnus at the end of the Aeneid is the first battle supplication scene in Homer's Iliad, the encounter of Adrestus with Menelaus and Agamemnon. Close consideration of Virgil's response to the Homeric scene sheds light on the poet's concerns in his presentation of the choice his Trojan hero Aeneas confronts in light of Turnus' appeal. Acrostics at the end of the Aeneid invite further reflection.

• Virgil’s Dido and the Death of Marcus Antonius

  351-356

  Lee Fratantuono

  Views:

  256

  Virgil’s account of the death of Dido at the end of Aeneid IV has been the subject of an appreciably extensive critical bibliography. What has not been recognized to date has been the influence of the tradition of the suicide of the former triumvir Marcus Antonius on Virgil’s depiction of Dido’s demise.

• The Ambiguous Arms of Aeneas

  37-42.

  Lee Fratantuono

  Views:

  202

  Virgil subtly connects the scene of Dido’s discussion with her sister Anna about the new Trojan arrival Aeneas, and the later first arrival of the Trojans in Latium. By a careful corre-spondence between the two passages, Virgil portends the dark amatory rationale behind the sub-sequent outbreak of war in Italy