Statius and the Thebaid

A critical study of Statius' Thebaid, Dr Vessey combats the common notion that the Thebaid is simply an exercise in anachronism, an episodic narrative of the Theban saga. He shows that the poem can and indeed must be read as an elaborate and sustained allegory of the emotions - a study in the extremes of human behaviour. Within this interpretation those features of the epic which have seemed bizarre or superfluous to many critics fall into place as organic and necessary to the poet's purpos...