Roman practices of reading were deeply embedded within a broader culture of viewing. While scholarship has long recognised the close relationship between Roman visual and literary cultures, textual and visual representations of myth are still frequently studied in isolation. This seminar presents the major objectives, findings, and conclusions of my thesis, which argues that literary texts were not only shaped by Roman habits of seeing but actively reflected them, participating alongside visual media in the transmission, interpretation, and transformation of myth. Adopting an intermedial approach, it demonstrates that visuality was not peripheral to literary interpretation but fundamental to how Roman audiences constructed meaning across different media.

Focusing on Roman receptions of the Trojan War from the first to the third centuries CE, the thesis examines three intermedial case studies: the Ilias Latina and the Tabula Iliaca Capitolina; Statius' Achilleid alongside Pompeian paintings of Achilles on Skyros; and Philostratus' Heroicus in dialogue with iconography and statues of Protesilaus. The seminar will provide an overview of the thesis's central arguments and contributions before exploring Statius' Achilleid and Pompeian paintings of Achilles on Skyros as a case study, demonstrating how an intermedial approach reshapes our understanding of genre.

Speaker
Alex Grigor has been a PhD candidate here at the ANU since 2023 and is scheduled to submit on 1st September. Her research explores how intermedial analysis of visual and literary representations of myth can enrich our understanding of Latin literature, with a focus on Roman viewing culture. She holds an MA and a BA(Hons) in Classical Studies from the University of Auckland.