Readings in Latin Literature: Vergil's Afterlife: Transformation and Tradition in Latin Epic

This course is an introduction to the rich tradition of Latin epic after Vergil's Aeneid and to the study of allusion as a literary technique. We will focus on the motif of the descent to the underworld, from Vergil's own account of Aeneas' journey to consult the shade of his father, through the epic of the early empire (Lucan, Statius, Silius) and late antiquity (Claudian), to the renaissance (Petrarch, Vida). The pace is designed to allow students to build skills in reading Latin epic poetry.