Valerius Flaccus: Argonautica Book III

The first commentary in English on a book of this Flavian epic tailored to the needs of graduate and undergraduate students.

Valerius Flaccus' epic on the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts (one of the central myths of classical antiquity) has been the subject of much scholarly and critical attention in recent years. This is the first edition of a book of the poem suitable for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica is one of the most significant surviving works of Flavian epic, which has recently become much more popular as a field of study and teaching in Latin literature. This is the first commentary in English directly tailored to the needs of graduate and advanced undergraduate students. It provides an introduction to the major themes of the poem and the structure and content of Book III in particular which can function as an overview of the key features of Flavian epic. The detailed commentary on Book III discusses linguistic issues, intertextual and mythical allusions and thematic strands. The book consists of two major episodes in the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts which can be read together or independently of each other.