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- Title
WEDDING BELLS OR DEATH KNELLS? CROSS-TEXTUAL DOOM AND POETICS IN 'DEPICTING' FAMOUS EPIC BANQUETS.
- Authors
Papaioannou, Sophia
- Abstract
Vergil's Dido is portrayed in the light of Ariadne in Catullus 64 as early as Book 1 of the Aeneid, in the episode recounting the banquet she organizes to honor Aeneas' arrival at Carthage (Aeneid 1.637ff.). The setting of the banquet and the overall dramatization of the reception echo Catullus' description of Peleus' palace on the occasion of his wedding to Thetis (64.43-51). Most conspicuously, both celebrations are described in language that draws on the vocabulary and the thematics of ekphrasis. A comparative study of the two passages, moreover, reveals that the two representations further share the same or similar vocabulary and motifs. This is not mere literary coincidence. The banquet that signals the beginning of the intimate relationship between Dido and Aeneas in many respects points back to the wedding that celebrates the union of Peleus and Thetis. A detailed examination of the mythological tradition underlying the Peleus-Thetis affair reveals a problematic relationship; and a careful study of crucial moments during the festivity, such as the identities of the gathering guests and the individual wedding gifts, will confirm that bad omens loom over this seemingly happy marriage from the very outset. The conjugal unhappiness of Peleus and Thetis is visually foreshadowed in the image of the abandoned Ariadne on the marital couch. Vergil appropriates this image and weaves it into the narrative of the opening scene of the Dido-Aeneas tragedy. Peleus, Thetis, and Dido are all the victims of divine plotting and treacherous betrayals, and their thematically similar experiences interlock through the ekphrastic vividness of their respective narratives.
- Subjects
DIDO (Book); VIRGIL, 70 B.C.-19 B.C.; MEALS in literature; EKPHRASIS; POETRY (Literary form)
- Publication
Ordia Prima, 2006, Vol 5, p73
- ISSN
1666-7743
- Publication type
Article