Wiener Studien Band 127/2014Zeitschrift für Klassische Philologie, Patristik und lateinische Tradition
|
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
|
DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
|
Wiener Studien 127/2014, pp. 165-198, 2014/07/01
Zeitschrift für Klassische Philologie, Patristik und lateinische Tradition
From Homer on, seafaring (with storms) is one of the most frequent elements in epic narratives. It is not only an essential part of the hero’s journey, but, as is known, can also be an expression of the narrator’s poetic endeavor. But what if the narrator’s ship seems perforated and fragile, what if his actio threatens to sink or to get lost in the vast and thunderous ocean of epic? This article examines the externalization and formalization of nautical and aquatic dangers in Roman epic. Thus, it concentrates on those scenes of suspense where the text creates the aesthetic illusion and simulates that itself could somehow shipwreck, suffer damage, or stray off course. The different Roman versions of the Argonautica are particularly relevant for this research because, as accounts of the seefaring myth par excellence, they are highly self-reflective and tend to incorporate the internal motives errores, naufragium, and submersio within their literary forms. Of these poetae naufragi, Catullus and Valerius Flaccus seem to be the most impressive illusionists.