Scelus Femineum: Adultery and Revenge in Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica Book 2 (98-241) and Seneca's Agamemnon

This article makes the case for the importance of Seneca's Agamemnon as a model, in terms of both language and content, for the account of the Lemnian massacre in the second Book of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, an episode which has been much discussed or disputed because of its extensive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Symbolae Osloenses 2015-01, Vol.89 (1), p.60-80
Main Author: Antoniadis, Theodoros
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adultery
Agamemnon
Argonautica
Lemnos
massacre
revenge
scelus
Seneca
Valerius Flaccus
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Summary:This article makes the case for the importance of Seneca's Agamemnon as a model, in terms of both language and content, for the account of the Lemnian massacre in the second Book of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, an episode which has been much discussed or disputed because of its extensive and digressive character. It will thus become evident that the semantics of adultery and crime, combined with those of vengeance elaborated on in the Agamemnon, have exercised a significant influence on Valerius' detailed sketching of the slaughter conducted by the Lemnian women as well as on the thematic coherence of the second Book as a whole.
ISSN:0039-7679
1502-7805
DOI:10.1080/00397679.2015.1109361