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This first in-depth study of Valerius Flaccus’ animals reveals their role in his poetic programme and the manifold ways in which he establishes their subjectivity. In one encounter, a trapped bird becomes a tragic victim, while the trapper is dehumanized. Elsewhere there are touching portrayals of animal/human camaraderie and friendship. Furthermore, Valerius’ provocative consideration of the ‘monstrous’ challenges simplistic definitions of any being’s nature, or the nature of relationships across species. His challenge entails profound ethical implications for his Roman readership, which resonate with us as we assess our own relationship to animals and the natural world today.
Price: $144.00
Pages: 282
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Mnemosyne, Supplements
Publication Date:
30 June 2022
ISBN: 9789004519602
Format: Hardcover
"Although the book is not organized chronologically, all passages are remarkably well contextualized and introduced, making it easy for the reader to understand the issues at stake. On the whole the monograph is thoughtfully structured and delivers what the author promises in the introduction: an intertextual study of passages featuring interactions between men and animals in Valerius’ Argonautica, with a focus on emotions."
Melissande Tomcik in BMCR 2023.03.29
"Überzeugend hat TM herausgearbeitet, dass VF in der Darstellung von Tieren sowie deren Beziehungen zu Menschen und Göttern Motive der epischen Tradition weiterentwickelt und Neuland betreten hat. [...] Abgesehen von den hier formulierten Gedanken zu Einzelheiten, hat TM, ihren Vorsatz, eine Blaupause für weitere Untersuchungen zu liefern, erfüllend, eine lesens- und bedenkenwerte Studie vorgelegt."
Peter Schenk in Gnomon 4/97/2025
Melissande Tomcik in BMCR 2023.03.29
"Überzeugend hat TM herausgearbeitet, dass VF in der Darstellung von Tieren sowie deren Beziehungen zu Menschen und Göttern Motive der epischen Tradition weiterentwickelt und Neuland betreten hat. [...] Abgesehen von den hier formulierten Gedanken zu Einzelheiten, hat TM, ihren Vorsatz, eine Blaupause für weitere Untersuchungen zu liefern, erfüllend, eine lesens- und bedenkenwerte Studie vorgelegt."
Peter Schenk in Gnomon 4/97/2025
Anne Tuttle Mackay, Ph.D. (2019), University College London, currently cares for her three young sons while conducting research in Latin poetry. Her PhD dissertation focused on animal/human dynamics in Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica. She has also published articles on animal focalization in Valerius Flaccus in Classical Literature and Posthumanism (Bloomsbury, 2020), and on prophecy in Statius’ Thebaid in Ritual and Religion in Flavian Epic (Oxford, 2013).