Virgil was undoubtedly very well-read: he had a deep knowledge of the epics of Homer and Ennius, as well as a myriad of other Greek and Roman poets. In this lecture, we shall look at the way that Virgil refers back to the literary tradition and what the effect of this is. In particular, we shall investigate Virgil’s intertextual use of earlier epic poets, as well as the way in which he infuses other genres, such as tragedy and erotic poetry into the Aeneid.

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