Nonnus’ Phaethon, Ovid, and Flavian Intertextuality

Lovatt, Helen

Abstract

This chapter explores the methodological case for reading Greek Imperial epic alongside and in conjunction with Latin epic, by revisiting one of the best-known examples, the case of the story of Phaethon in Ovid and Nonnus. Since Knox’s article, the consensus has been that Nonnus’ version relied rather on intratextual links to his own poetry, Euripides’ Phaethon and broader similarities to traditions found in genres such as epigram. This chapter argues that these connections do not in fact exclude knowledge of and engagement with Ovid’s Phaethon. The chapter uses intertextual tactics in Flavian epic as a control: by seeing how complex and playful, tangential and loaded, the Ovidian reference of Valerius Flaccus, Statius and Silius Italicus are, we can gain a sense of the possible modes of interaction available to Nonnus. The chapter explores the different ways that Flavian epic uses the Phaethon episode, and investigates in some detail two specific aspects of Nonnus’ version: the framing of the story and its use of ideas of ekphrasis, omens and prophecy; and the child-likeness of Phaethon, the play-chariot that he creates, along with the poetics of cosmic play. The article concludes that intertextual relationships cannot be proved, but that reading Nonnus alongside Latin epic, both Ovid and Flavian epic, enriches all of the poems involved, and that there is a third way between requiring comparison and rejecting it entirely, a playful and permissive model of reading, which reflects the jouissance and fullness of Nonnus’ poetry.

Citation

Lovatt, H. (2022). Nonnus’ Phaethon, Ovid, and Flavian Intertextuality. In K. Carvounis, S. Papaioannou, & G. Scafoglio (Eds.), Later Greek Epic and the Latin Literary Tradition (179-206). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110791907-009

• Online Publication Date: Nov 7, 2022
• Publication Date: Nov 7, 2022
• Deposit Date: Dec 22, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 3, 2024
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Pages: 179-206
• Series Title: Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes
• Series Number: 136
• Series ISSN: 2365-1652
• Book Title: Later Greek Epic and the Latin Literary Tradition
• ISBN: 9783110791792
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110791907-009
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/28716079
• Publisher URL: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110791907-009/html
• Related Public URLs: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110791907/html
• Contract Date: Sep 22, 2021