A classical epic of fratricide and war, the Thebaid retells the legendary conflict between the sons of Oedipus--Polynices and Eteocles--for control of the city of Thebes. The Latin poet Statius reworks a familiar story from Greek myth, dramatized long before by Aeschylus in his tragedy Seven against Thebes. Statius chose his subject well: the Rome of his day, ruled by the emperor Domitian, was not too distant from the civil wars that had threatened the survival of the empire. Published in 92 A.D., the Thebaid was an immediate success, and its fame grew in succeeding...
A classical epic of fratricide and war, the Thebaid retells the legendary conflict between the sons of Oedipus--Polynices and Eteocles--for ...
Like Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso" and Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered," Boiardo's chivalric stories of lords and ladies first entertained the culturally innovative court of Ferrara in the Italian Renaissance. Inventive, humorous, inexhaustible, the story recounts Orlando's love-stricken pursuit of "the fairest of her sex, Angelica" (in Milton's terms) through a fairyland that combines the military valor of Charlemagne's knights with the enchantments of King Arthur's court.
Like Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso" and Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered," Boiardo's chivalric stories of lords and ladies first entertained the culturally i...
