Poetics of the First Punic War investigates the literary afterlives of Rome’s first conflict with Carthage. From its original role in the Middle Republic as the narrative proving ground for epic’s development out of verse historiography, to its striking cultural reuse during the Augustan and Flavian periods, the First Punic War (264–241 BCE) holds an underappreciated place in the history of Latin literature. Because of the serendipitous meeting of historical content and poetic form in the third century BCE, a textualized First Punic War went on to shape the Latin language and its literary genres, the practices and politics of remembering war, popular visions of Rome as a cultural capital, and numerous influential conceptions of Punic North Africa. Poetics of the First Punic War combines innovative theoretical approaches with advances in the philological analysis of Latin literature to reassess the various “texts” of the First Punic War, including those composed by Vergil, Propertius, Horace, and Silius Italicus. This book also contains sustained treatment of Naevius’ fragmentary Bellum Punicum (Punic War) and Livius Andronicus’ Odusia (Odyssey), some of the earliest works of Latin poetry. As the tradition’s primary Roman topic, the First Punic War is forever bound to these poems, which played a decisive role in transmitting an epic view of history.

Thomas Biggs is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Georgia.

“Biggs brings together a number of texts that are not frequently juxtaposed and effectively demonstrates their relationships in meaningful ways. I think readers will find the works they are most familiar with illuminated by the works they are less familiar with. The book is well-written, has a clear purpose, and contributes to contemporary debate on historical remembrance.”
—Thomas E. Strunk, Xavier University— -

“Biggs offers a lively, timely account of the ways in which Romans reflected on the momentous naval events of the first Punic war, from the ‘new medium’ of literature in Latin in the late 3rd century BCE through a variety of monumental forms down to the late first century CE.  It is an eye-opening read for anyone interested in the origins of Latin literature, naval warfare, and cultural memory.”
—Matthew Roller, Johns Hopkins University— -