The Epic Journey in Greek and Roman Literature

This volume explores journeys across time and space in Greek and Latin literature, taking as its starting point the paradigm of travel offered by the epic genre. The epic journey is central to the dynamics of classical literature, offering a powerful lens through which characters, authors, and readers experience their real and imaginary worlds. The journey informs questions of identity formation, narrative development, historical emplotment, and constructions of heroism - topics that move through and beyond the story itself. The act of moving to and from 'home' - both a fixed point of spatial orientation and a transportable set of cultural values - thus represents a physical journey and an intellectual process. In exploring its many manifestations, the chapters in this collection reconceive the centrality of the epic journey across a wide variety of genres and historical contexts, from Homer to the moon.

Reviews & endorsements

'This book is accessible to nonspecialists but is more likely to be appreciated by classical scholars, especially those focusing on epics, Greek and Roman history, and ancient views of gender and domestic life … Recommended.' S. E. Goins, Choice

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Product details

• Date Published: May 2019
• format: Hardback
• isbn: 9781108498098
• length: 336 pages

• dimensions: 234 x 156 x 21 mm
• weight: 0.7kg
• contains: 5 colour illus.
• availability: Available