Elena Giusti on Virgil's Carthage and Homer's Phaeacia

cf. Part II A1 paper on Homer, Odyssey and Virgil, Aeneid; C3 paper on Rome and Carthage

The lecture will explore Virgil's construction of the episode of Aeneas' stay at Carthage in Books 1 and 4 of the Aeneid on the model of Odysseus' stay at Scheria and highlight the similarities and differences from the Homeric model. I will concentrate on the narratological features of both episodes and on the characterisation of their protagonists, emphasising how Virgil's reuse of the Homeric model may be seen to shed light on the potentially threatening aspects of the Phaeacians and on their connections with the Phoenicians. Eventually, I will show how the Greek model interacts with the Roman historical memory of the Carthaginians of the Punic Wars.