Programme

Silius Italicus and Flavian Culture
4th - 6th July 2011
Centre for Classical and Near Eastern Studies of Australia (CCANESA)
The University of Sydney
Pacific Rim Latin Literature Conference 2011
in association with the Flavian Epic Network

 Click here to download the programme as a PDF

Monday 4th July

10.00-11.00 a.m.
Registration and coffee

11.00 a.m.-1.00 p.m.
Welcome from Prof. Barbara Caine, Head of School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Panel 1: Politics and Power
Chair: John Penwill
Paul Roche (Sydney) “The Punica and Flavian power” (20 mins)
Liz Klaasen (Carleton) “History and Epic: Marcellus at the siege of Syracuse” (20 mins)
Claire Stocks (Cambridge/Manchester) “Exemplary Imperium: Models of leadership in the Senates of Silius Italicus’ Punica and Flavian Rome.” (45 mins)

1.00-2.00 p.m.
Lunch

2.00-3.30 p.m.
Panel 2: Silius and Valerius Flaccus
Chair: Peter Davis
Daniela Galli “Silius Italicus and Valerius Flaccus: some examples of interrrelation” (20 mins)
Mark Heerink (Leiden/Cambridge) “Orpheus in Silius Italicus’ Punica and Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica” (20 mins)
Michiel van der Keur (VU Amsterdam) “The Campanian Hellespont; Valerius’ Argonautica 2-3 and Silius’ poetics of inversion” (20 mins)

3.30-4.00 p.m.
Coffee

4.00-5.30 p.m.
Panel 3: Wives, priestesses and Amazons
Chair: Patricia Watson
Jessica Dietrich (ANU) “Marcia and Regulus’ ship” (20 mins)
Peta Greenfield (Sydney) “Silius’ Claudia: A study in ambiguity” (20 mins)
Jennifer Oliver (VUW) “Flavian Amazons: Female Warriors in Silius and Valerius Flaccus” (20 mins)

5.30-6.00 p.m.
Break

6.00-7.00 p.m.
Keynote paper
Chair: Bob Cowan
Raymond Marks (Missouri) “War, Reconciliation, and the New Flavian Order: the Funeral Games in Punica 16”

7.00-8.00 p.m.
Wine reception

Tuesday 5th July

9.30-11.00 a.m.
Panel 4: Predecessors poetic and prosaic
Chair: Lindsay Watson
Anne Rogerson (Sydney) “Ascanius in the Punica” (20 mins)
Arthur J. Pomeroy (VUW) “Silius Italicus and Greek Epic” (45 mins)

11.00-11.30 a.m.
Coffee

11.30 a.m.-1.00 p.m.
Panel 5: Silius and the Flavian Dynasty
Chair: Paul Roche
Shawn Ross (UNSW) “The Capitol in the Punica: Silius Italicus and the Civil Wars of 68-69” (20 mins)
John Penwill (LaTrobe) “Imperial Encomia in Flavian Epic” (45 mins)

1.00-2.00 p.m.
Lunch

2.00-3.00 p.m.
Panel 6: The wider epic landscape
Chair: Jessica Dietrich
Christopher Ransom (Sydney) “Bulls, Ploughmen and Poets: metapoetics in Statius’ Thebaid 9.82-85” (20 mins)
Peter Davis (Adelaide) “Statius’ Achilleid: the Paradoxical Epic” (20 mins)

3.00-3.30 p.m.
Coffee

3.30-5.30 p.m.
Panel 7: War in Silius
Chair: Helen Lovatt
Hannah Bartonek (Uppsala) “Pathos at war” (20 mins)
Paolo Asso (Michigan) “Africa, Civil War and Roman Identity in Silius” (45 mins)
Bob Cowan (Sydney) “Back Out of Hell: the Katabasis, Salvation, and Initiation of Silius’ Minucius” (20 mins)

Wednesday 6th July

9.00-10.30 a.m.  
Panel 8: Triumph and disaster
Chair: Arthur Pomeroy
Helen Lovatt (Nottingham) “Silius’ Flaminius and Flavian aesthetics of defeat” (45 mins)
Frances Billot (Auckland) “Cannae, Hannibal’s most memorable victory” (20 mins)

10.30-11.00 a.m.
Coffee

11.00 a.m.-1.00 p.m.
Panel 9: Close readings
Chair: Paolo Asso
Simone Finkmann (Oxford) “The Speeches in Silius Italicus’ Punica” (45 mins)
R. Joy Littlewood (Oxford) “Upstaging Juno:  Minerva’s  role in Proteus’ (Flavian) ‘Judgement of Paris’: Silius Italicus, Punica 7. 409-93” (45 mins)

1.00-2.00 p.m.
Lunch

2.00-3.30 p.m.
Panel 10: Silius, Pliny, Statius, and Martial
Chair: Anne Rogerson
Michelle Borg (Sydney) “The Luxuria Hypocrisy: Pliny the Younger on Silius the Philokalos” (20 mins)
Mark Masterson (VUW) “Divine Comparisons Compared: Punica 17.645-654 and Silvae 4.2.46-56” (20 mins)
Lindsay and Patricia Watson (Sydney) “Martial and Silius” (20 mins)

3.30-4.00 p.m.
Coffee

4.00-5.00 p.m.
Panel 11: Coda
Chair: Raymond Marks
Marcus Wilson (Auckland) “The Non-Flavian Punica” (20 mins)
Closing discussion

7.30 p.m. Conference Dinner at local restaurant