Francis CairnsCambridge University PressEdition: New Ed, 8/21/2008EAN 9780521034968, ISBN10: 0521034965Paperback, 296 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cmLanguage: EnglishAn examination of the main characters in the Aeneid - Aeneas himself, Dido and Turnus - in the light of Virgil's contemporary Augustan political and literary ideology. The characters and the plot and incident of the epic are seen as embodying and exemplifying first the ancient ideals of kingship and concord, and second the Roman self-identification as at once 'Italian' and 'Trojan', and finally as reflecting the literary self-evaluation of the Augustan age. In the literary area, Virgil's relations with contemporary Roman elegy, with early Greek lyric and, most important, with Homer, are studied and reevaluated. Virgilian scholars and students of Augustan literature in general will find this book of interest to them.Preface1. Divine and human kingship2. Kingship and the love affair of Aeneas and Dido3. Kingship and the conflict of Aeneas and Turnus4. Concord and discord5. Geography and nationalism6. Dido and the elegiac tradition7. Lavinia and the lyric tradition8. The Aeneid as Odyssey9. The games in Homer and VirgilList of modern works citedIndex locorumGeneral index.
