No More Heroes by Theodore Antoniadis

No More Heroes by Theodore Antoniadis

This book offers an alternative reading of Silius Italicus' Punica against the political and literary backdrop of Nero's reign-one of the most underexplored areas in Flavian scholarship. Although Silius is no longer dismissed for his lack of originality or reduced to a nostalgic imitator of Vergil, readers have yet to fully grasp the subtle implications of his self-conscious engagement in a constructive dialogue with the imperial present. As a result, they often misinterpret the Punica as an epic firmly rooted in the Flavian era, overlooking or downplaying Silius' multifaceted belatedness as a man who lived under twelve emperors and witnessed firsthand Nero's downfall and its aftermath. Nevertheless, the primary goal of this monography is not to challenge the official dating of the poem's composition-though it does raise legitimate questions about its status as an exclusive product of Flavian Rome. Instead, its central premise is that the Punica should not merely be seen as a historical epic linking Rome's distant past to its imperial present but rather as a fundamentally political poem that reflects Silius' imperial anxieties-anxieties rooted in Nero's reign and persisting beyond his fall.

Theodore Antoniadis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. 

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9783119145244
ISBN 10	3119145246
Title	No More Heroes
Author	Theodore Antoniadis
Series	Trends In Classics - Supplementary Volumes
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	De Gruyter
Year published	2025-12-31
Number of pages	200
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.