Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • Chapter 1 - Hybrid Ennius: Cultural and Poetic Multiplicity in the Annals

  • from I - Innovation
  • Edited by Cynthia Damon, University of Pennsylvania, Joseph Farrell, University of Pennsylvania
  • Book:
    Ennius' <I>Annals</I>
    Published online:
    10 April 2020
    Print publication:
    09 April 2020, pp 25-44

  • Summary

    This paper argues that hybrid and otherwise multiple or excessive bodies are central to the creation of Ennius’ persona in the Annals. My discussion focuses on three significant figures: the peacock in Book 1, Discordia in Book 7, and the poet’s failing body in Book 16. I argue that Ennius conspicuously associates himself with both Discordia and the peacock. These figures symbolize generic hybridity and stylistic multiplicity or poikilia, aspects of the Annals that later writers tend to suppress. The emphasis on the poet’s physical deterioration in Book 16 forms an important contrast: as Ennius’ body dissolves, his soul prepares to find a new home in the literary bodies of subsequent writers. We should read all of this Ennian multiplicity from a cultural perspective: to be Roman is always to be already a hybrid. Ennius embraces this reality at key moments in the Annals, which forces a reconsideration of the overall tone of the poem and the broader trajectory of Roman epic.