Reading Rivers in Roman Literature And Culture

This study examines rivers as a literary phenomenon, particularly in the poetry of Vergil. It first considers the Greco-Roman understanding of the river in its primary symbolic roles, cosmological, ritual and ethnographical, and then analyzes the river as a literary device, arguing that descriptions of rivers in Roman poetry are, in many cases, a form of authorial comment on the progress or structure of a narrative.

Prudence J. Jones is Assistant Professor of Classics and General Humanities at Montclair State University

Foreword

ix

Sarolta A. Takacs

Preface

xi

Introduction

xiii

Abbreviations

xv

Part I: The Cultural Meaning of Rivers in Greece and Rome

Cosmology

3

(16)

Ritual

19

(18)

Ethnography

37

(14)

Part II: Rivers in a Literary Environment

The River That Talks: Rivers and Poetic Speech

51

(20)

Round Rivers: Okeanos and Bounded Narrative

71

(10)

Agmen Aquarum: River Catalogues

81

(12)

Up the Creek: Upstream Voyages and Narrative Structure

93

(12)

Overflow: The Reception of River Motifs

105

(4)

Bibliography

109

(10)

Index

119

(6)

About the Author

125

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Reading Rivers in Roman Literature And Culture

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials