Women and war in Roman epic

• Main Author: Pyy, Elina
• Format: eBook Book
• Language: English
• Published: Leiden Brill 2021; BRILL
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Epic poetry, Latin > History and criticism; Identity (Philosophical concept) in literature; War in literature; Women in literature
• ISBN: 9789004434905; 9004434909
• DOI: 10.1163/9789004443457

In Women and War in Roman Epic, Elina Pyy discusses the narrative and ideological functions of gender, and the fashioning of Roman imperial identity, in the works of Virgil, Lucan, Statius, Silius Italicus and Valerius Flaccus.

Table of Contents:

• Intro -- ‎Contents -- ‎Acknowledgements -- ‎Chapter 1. Introduction -- ‎1. Subjects, Abjects and Others: The Narrative Construction of Subject Positions in War Epic -- ‎Chapter 2. Origins of War -- ‎1. Casus belli: War-Bringing Marriages and Ill-Omened Brides -- ‎2. Warmongering Furies and Active Agitators -- ‎3. Divine Interventions and Semiotic furor: Virgil's Amata and Turnus -- ‎Chapter 3. Victims of War: Gendered Dynamics of Suffering -- ‎1. The Victimised Female Body and the Construction of Roman Identity -- ‎2. The Victim's Viewpoint: Female Gaze and Epic Subjectivity -- ‎3. Marginal Mothers? The Threatening Overtones of Maternal Fear -- ‎4. Grief, Lament and the Dissolution of Differences -- ‎Chapter 4. 'Playing Supermen': The Manly Matrons of Roman Epic -- ‎1. Mentem aequare viros et laudis poscere partem: Female Groups in Defense of Their Cities -- ‎2. Fida coniunx-comes ultima fati? -- ‎3. Da mihi castra sequi: The Female Intrusion in the World of War -- ‎Chapter 5. Means of Production or Weapons of Destruction? Gender and Violence in Roman War Epic -- ‎1. Manly Men versus Effeminate Others: Armed Violence in the Construction of Romanitas -- ‎2. Women in Arms: The Absolute Other? -- ‎3. Bellatrix virgo: An Outsider or an Insider? -- ‎4. Fragile Warriors and the Questioning of the Male Subject Position -- ‎Chapter 6. Sabine Successors? The Failure of Female Mediation -- ‎1. The Futility of mora, the Failure of Mediation: Mixing and Juxtaposing Epic with Historiography -- ‎2. Functional Failures: Epic Women Tangled Up with War -- ‎Chapter 7. Dynamics of Death -- ‎1. Death, Power and Narrative Control: Creusa, Dido, and Cleopatra -- ‎2. Getting Rid of the Queen: The Archetype of regina moritura -- ‎Chapter 8. Conclusion -- ‎Bibliography -- ‎General Index