Epics of Rome

The Aeneid and Metamorphoses have continued to be rediscovered and reinterpreted throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.... Read more

Virgil and Ovid were both incredibly influential upon later poetry and culture, and in this lecture we look at some of t... Read more

Ovid ends his work with a series of deifications: Julius Caesar becomes a god; Augustus will become a god. This most all... Read more

In books 11-14 of the Metamorphoses Ovid takes on the stories of Troy's fall and Rome's origin - have we finally reached... Read more

This lecture focusses on the two most prominent lovers in Metamorphoses 9-11, Orpheus and Pygmalion. Both also happen to... Read more

It is often said that Ovid's is a 'Callimachean epic', in other words an episodic and aetiological poem which eschews bi... Read more

Epic poetry often features a hostile and punitive god, who forms a barrier to the hero’s journey, but the Metamorphoses ... Read more

On the surface Ovid’s Metamorphoses appears to question traditional gender norms, in particular those held about elite R... Read more

When Virgil died in 19 BCE, the Aeneid became an instant classic, and even before his death references had been made to ... Read more

Virgil was undoubtedly very well-read: he had a deep knowledge of the epics of Homer and Ennius, as well as a myriad of ... Read more