UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Mythic Recursions: Doubling and Variation in the Mythological Works of Ovid and Valerius Flaccus Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/11r709mb Author Krasne, Darcy Anne Publication Date 2011 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Mythic Recursions: Doubling and Variation in the Mythological Works of Ovid and Valerius Flaccus by Darcy Anne Krasne A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Classics in the Graduate Division of the University Of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Ellen Oliensis, Chair Professor Anthony Bulloch Professor Christopher Hallett Professor John Lindow Professor Andrew Zissos Spring 2011 Mythic Recursions: Doubling and Variation in the Mythological Works of Ovid and Valerius Flaccus Copyright 2011 by Darcy Anne Krasne 1 Abstract Mythic Recursions: Doubling and Variation in the Mythological Works of Ovid and Valerius Flaccus by Darcy Anne Krasne Doctor of Philosophy in Classics University of California, Berkeley Professor Ellen Oliensis, Chair This dissertation explores the ways Latin poetry reworks the mythological tradition of which it itself is a part. I approach this broad topic primarily from the angle of mythological variation— that is, the competing and sometimes contradictory versions of individual myths which are an inherent component of the Greek and Roman mythological system. In Greece, myths and their variants played an important role in interfacing religion with politics. Through three “case studies” on the works of Ovid and Valerius Flaccus, I demonstrate different ways in which Roman poets, too, could utilize the pluralities of the tradition for their own poetic and political ends. Combining close reading with both focused and synoptic views of mythology, my methods present an approach to mythological poetry that comes squarely to terms with mythic variation as a significant textual strategy. The result is a version of intertextuality where the “text” at issue is, in effect, the complete body of myth. I show in particular how Ovid and Valerius Flaccus use the pluralities of the mythic tradition to offer the reader intertextual associations and resonances. Chapter 1 examines the Athenian hero Theseus in the poetry of Ovid. I argue that by sometimes referring to the hero as son of Aegeus and sometimes as son of Neptune, Ovid illuminates particular aspects of Theseus’s character depending on which father is brought to the fore, and that Theseus is associated more strongly with Neptune in the Heroides and with Aegeus in the Metamorphoses. I also look at how missing pieces of Theseus’s story are narrated through the seemingly unrelated tales that abut and interrupt the so-called “Theseid” in the central books of the Metamorphoses. Finally, I consider how Ovid’s belated connection of Theseus and Augustus in Met. 15 requires us to reexamine Augustus in the light of Theseus’s portrayal. As the princeps, like Theseus, claimed two fathers—his adoptive father, the deified Julius Caesar, and his mortal father, Gaius Octavius—we may possibly understand Ovid’s focus on Theseus’s paternity as a commentary on imperial propaganda regarding issues of inheritance, succession, and the right to rule. Chapter 2 investigates the extended catalogue of curses in Ovid’s Ibis in relation to both the mythographic tradition and Ovid’s own poetic corpus. By elucidating parallels between the organizational structure of the catalogue and mythographic catalogues such as Hyginus’s Fabulae, I demonstrate how the Ibis plays with presenting itself in the manner of these 2 mythographic texts while exploiting the polyvalency of the mythic tradition’s inherent mutability and syncretism. I also discuss how major themes of the poem, such as a prevalent emphasis on names and their suppression, and an identification of the poetic corpus with the poet’s own body, echo the thematic concerns of Ovid’s other exile poetry. Finally, I argue for identifying Ovid’s pseudonymous enemy “Ibis” with the Muses, whose “love/hate” relationship with Ovid is clearly expressed in the exile poetry. Chapter 3 turns to Valerius Flaccus’s Argonautica, which picks up on many of the same themes of name, identity, and mythic variation that I explore in the first two chapters. Conscious of his epic’s belated position in an extensive Argonautic tradition, Valerius is highly skilled at incorporating myriad versions of a single narrative incident through devices such as misleading foreshadowing and intertextual allusion. He also plays with mythic homonyms, blending together figures who share names so that they no longer fit into discrete existences. These reworkings of the tradition reflect an overarching concern with duality, manifest in paired characters, repeated episodes, and the poem’s emphatic bipartite structure: the first half presents positive models of fraternal interaction, while the second half is fraught with fratricide and civil war. I argue that the clear thematic parallels which Valerius draws between the Argonauts and the Flavian gens suggest reading the epic politically. In particular, I propose that the epic may reflect two possible futures for Rome, harmony or civil strife. The imperial heirs, Titus and Domitian, find an echo in the twin Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, who were the traditional mythical exemplum of fraternal piety for joint imperial heirs. Valerius’s split emphasis on positive and negative pairings confronts this problematic future and ultimately reads as a cautionary tale; the entire epic is crafted to promote its double vision. i For Jamie, Marisa, Lorraine, and Jim magistris meis ii Contents List of Figures iii List of Tables iii Acknowledgments iv Introduction 1 1 Fathers and Sons 14 Born from Stone, Nursed by Stone, with a Heart of Stone 18 Son of Neptune 23 Son of Aegeus 26 Theseus’s Sea-Change 35 Divi Filius 42 Intimations of Imperium 47 2 The Pedant’s Curse 52 Starving the Slender Muse 54 The Curse of Pedantry 70 Onymous, Anonymous, Pseudonymous 77 Cursing the Hand That Feeds You 93 3 A Tale of Twos 103 I’ve Often Seen a Corpse without a Name, but a Name without a Corpse! 108 What’s in a Name? 116 Seeing Double 125 Two-Part Harmony 128 Split Personalities 136 Two for the Price of One 139 Every End Is a New Beginning 146 Politicizing the Argo 152 Bibliography 163 iii List of Figures 1 Concentric structure of Ib. 469–76, “Those struck by lightning.” 58 2 Lines 469–500 in schematized form. 61 3 “Those struck by lightning” & “Those destroyed by their teams of horses.” 98 4 Ajax’s failure to wound himself. 98 5a Aeacid rulers of Epirus, descendants of Pyrrhus-Neoptolemus, according to 99 Pausanias (1.11.1–4, 4.35.3–4, 6.12.3, 9.7.2). 5b Aeacid rulers of Epirus, descendants of Pyrrhus-Neoptolemus, according to 100 Plutarch, Pyrrhus. 5c Aeacid rulers of Epirus, descendants of Pyrrhus-Neoptolemus, according to 101 Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus (7.6, 17.3, 18.1, 28.1, 28.3). 5d Aeacid rulers of Epirus, descendants of Pyrrhus-Neoptolemus: Cross’s 102 reconstruction of a possible family tree. 5e Aeacid rulers of Epirus, descendants of Pyrrhus-Neoptolemus, as agreed on by 102 more than one ancient author and not contradicted by any. List of Tables 1 The development of the unnatural birth topos. 20 2 Variations on the parentage and death of Linus. 60 3 Catalogue opening by theme. 65 4 Appearances of the Dioscuri. 162 iv Acknowledgments I have many people to thank for their support, assistance, kindness, and friendship, both during the writing of this dissertation and in the years leading up to it. My greatest debt is to my advisor, Nelly Oliensis, who has always been an encouraging voice, a perceptive reader, and a stalwart champion. The rest of my committee, too, has shaped me and my work in numerous ways, and I want to thank them all. Anthony Bulloch has strongly influenced my approach to myth and was always patient with my Greek. John Lindow kindled my understanding of myth and folklore beyond the Classical, and his classes always provided a welcome supplement to (and diversion from) the offerings of the Classics department. (He also taught me the perfect way to cut a pineapple.) Chris Hallett helped me through the sometimes confusing world of visual narrative and has always been wonderfully enthusiastic in our long discussions. And last but most certainly not least, I owe many thanks to Andrew Zissos, who agreed to serve on my dissertation committee at a very late stage in the game. He has been most helpful and generous with his time, and I know that my dissertation has benefited from his insights. The ladies of κτλ—Caroline Bishop, Lauren Donovan, Liz Gloyn, and Isabel Köster— deserve an immense thank you for their substantive and beneficial comments on all of my chapters, which would unquestionably be the poorer without their help. Alessandro Barchiesi has also been incredibly encouraging and has repeatedly displayed an extraordinary and touching generosity. Several friends, acquaintances, and perfect strangers have obligingly and kindly sent me unpublished material, in particular Gail Trimble, Tim Stover, Chiara Battistella, Karen Kelly, and Cynthia Swanson. Thank you to Cristiano Castelletti for our several Valerian coffees, and thank you to Gareth Williams for taking the time at a busy APA meeting to indulge in a prolonged conversation on the Ibis. Other debts of thanks are numerous, and I will undoubtedly miss out many deserving recipients of those thanks. Thank you to the graduate students (and faculty) at UCLA for being such a receptive audience for my very first conference paper, and thank you to Kendra Willson (and subsequently Józsi Nagy) for extending an invitation to a conference that just happened to coincide fortuitously with the beginnings of my interest in the Ibis.