Ennius Beyond Epic

Showcases the full breadth of Ennius' daring, experimental, and multiform literary corpus.

Quintus Ennius (239–169 BCE) was Latin literature's extraordinary founding father: he composed in a striking array of literary genres, many of which he introduced to, or invented at, Rome. This collection, featuring an international team of experts, provides the first assessment of Ennius' corpus in all of its unruly totality.Quintus Ennius (239–169 BCE) was Latin literature's extraordinary founding father: he composed a striking array of texts in a striking array of genres (tragedy, satire, philosophy, epigram, epic, and more), many of which he in fact introduced to, or invented at, Rome. Modern scholarship, however, has focused overwhelmingly on just one Ennian poem: his epic, the Annales. Assembling an international team of literary critics and philologists, Ennius Beyond Epic provides the first assessment of Ennius' corpus in all of its unruly totality. Its thirteen chapters range widely: some examine themes throughout the poet's fragmentary output; others offer analyses of particular non-epic texts (e.g., Andromacha, Sacra historia, Saturae); still others study the Roman reception of Ennius' corpus from Pacuvius to Catullus to Apuleius and beyond. The picture that emerges is of a New Ennius: a daring, experimental, and multiform author.