This spin's winning number was 3.
Which means for me, it's the Thebaid, Statius' Latin epic about Thebes, Odysseus, Eteocles, Polynices, Ismene, and Antigone. It's in twelve books (like the Aeneid) which is about 350 pages in my edition, translated by Jane Wilson Joyce.
I read Joyce's introduction (very good) to get started. Not much is known about Publius Papinius Statius. He was born between 40 and 50 A.D. in Naples and probably died before 96 A.D. His father was also a poet, though in Greek, and taught Greek and rhetoric. One of the father's pupils was Domitian, the future emperor. The younger Statius in addition to the Thebaid, wrote occasional poems collected as the Silvae, and had started an epic about Achilles when he died.
Statius was more read in the Middle Ages than he was in classical times (or now, I suspect,...😉). Dante was a fan, and Statius is an important character in the Purgatorio section of the Divine Comedy. Joyce's introduction was enthusiastic and I'm feeling fired up.
And so I'll be reading this by the 18th of December.
Did you spin? Did you get something fun?
I forgot all about Statius, even though I read The Divine Comedy.
ReplyDeleteAlso in my last year of high school, we compared three major works with Antigone, but I don't remember this reference. Well, that was a few decades ago...
Enjoy!
I think the bulk of the Thebaid is the war between Polynices and Eteocles, the same as Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes, so there would be less Antigone. But she's there.
DeleteOoooh, exciting! I look forward to seeing what you think about this one. I got the opposite -- 20th century nature writing!
ReplyDeleteI always felt like I should have read this back in the day and now's the time!
DeleteThis is not one I would ever pick up to read, but I hope you enjoy it! Happy reading. :D
ReplyDeleteAh, well, it's that leftover classical languages education...
DeleteThanks!
It's in the back of my mind that I should try spinning for classics so that I keep up with my idea about reading them more often...but, then, I stumble along with my other plans. It does take your reading to some very curious places!
ReplyDeleteWe'll see about this one! Even as a classicist, this was not a popular read.
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