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Books by Claire Stocks

Forthcoming with Oxford University Press, February 2016 Horace’s Epodes rank among the most unde... more Forthcoming with Oxford University Press, February 2016

Horace’s Epodes rank among the most undervalued texts of the early Roman principate. Abrasive in style and riddled with apparent inconsistencies, the Epodes have divided critics from the outset – infuriating and delighting them in equal measure. This volume, a collection of essays on the Epodes by new and established scholars, seeks to overturn this work’s ill-famed reputation and to reassert its place as a valid and valued member of Horace’s literary corpus. Covering a wide range of topics including the iambic tradition and aspects of gender, the volume begins with a consideration of the influences of Greek iambic on the Epodes and ends with a discussion on their reception during the 17th century and beyond. By focusing on the connections that can be drawn between the Epodes and other (ancient) works, as well as between the Epodes themselves, this volume aims to appeal to new and seasoned readers of the poems. In doing so it hopes to illustrate that this smallest, and seemingly most insignificant, of Horace’s works is worthy of a place alongside the much-lauded Satires and Odes.

This is a volume of papers co-edited with Dr Philippa Bather, UCL. Contributors include:

Philippa Bather, Elena Giusti, Ian Goh, Emily Gowers, Tom Hawkins, Andrew Morrison, Ellen Oliensis, Claire Stocks, and Michael Sullivan

Silius Italicus’ Punica, the longest surviving epic in Latin literature, has seen a resurgence of... more Silius Italicus’ Punica, the longest surviving epic in Latin literature, has seen a resurgence of interest among scholars in recent years. A celebration of Rome’s triumph over Hannibal and Carthage during the second Punic war, Silius’ poem presents a plethora of familiar names to its readers: Fabius Maximus, Claudius Marcellus, Scipio Africanus and, of course, Rome’s ‘ultimate enemy’ – Hannibal.
Where most recent scholarship on the Punica has focused its attention of the problematic portrayal of Scipio Africanus as a hero for Rome, this book shifts the focus to Carthage and offers a new reading of Hannibal’s place in Silius’ epic, and in Rome’s literary culture at large. Celebrated and demonised in equal measure, Hannibal became something of an anti-hero for Rome; a man who acquired mythic status, and was condemned by Rome’s authors for his supposed greed and cruelty, yet admired for his military acumen.
For the first time this book provides a comprehensive overview of this multi-faceted Hannibal as he appears in the Punica and suggests that Silius’ portrayal of him can be read as the culmination to Rome’s centuries-long engagement with the Carthaginian in its literature. Through detailed consideration of internal focalisation, Silius’ Hannibal is revealed to be a man striving to create an eternal legacy, becoming the Hannibal whom a Roman, and a modern reader, would recognise. The works of Polybius, Livy, Virgil, and the post Virgilian epicists all have a bit-part in this book, which aims to show that Silius Italicus’ Punica is as much an example of how Rome remembered its past, as it is a text striving to join Rome’s epic canon.

Papers by Claire Stocks

Liverpool University Press eBooks, Sep 1, 2014

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Liverpool University Press eBooks, Sep 1, 2014

University of Toronto Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2019

Liverpool University Press eBooks, Sep 1, 2014

BRILL eBooks, May 9, 2022

Illinois Classical Studies, 2019

This introductory chapter contextualizes the contributions of the various articles and their inte... more This introductory chapter contextualizes the contributions of the various articles and their interdiscursive approach in combining material culture and literary evidence. It offers an overview of the difficulties of parsing a hostile historiographical tradition on the emperor Domitian, and the ideological as well as chronological fault-lines created by authors who very often straddled the Flavian and post-Flavian periods, turning from enthusiastic support of the emperor to damning critique; the particular challenges to the material evidence posed by Domitian’s damnatio, and the physical as well as literary forms of oblivion that “erased” the last Flavian emperor; the gaps, absences, revisions, and overwritings that complicate accurate understanding of Domitian’s character, achievements, and historical record.

Campania in the Flavian Poetic Imagination, 2018

This chapter discusses how Hannibal’s eruption of fury at the Capuan patriot Decius mirrors the v... more This chapter discusses how Hannibal’s eruption of fury at the Capuan patriot Decius mirrors the violence of Campania’s volcanic landscape and the mythic monsters who lurk beneath the surface, punished for transgressing boundaries. Hannibal’s tour of the Phlegraean Fields suggests a travesty of Aeneas’ tour of Evander’s modest settlement in Aeneid 8. In perfidious Capua, a city whose depravity flouts every mark of Roman decency, now driven by furor to impious war, Hannibal, a monster in a land of monsters, is honoured as divine. In rivalling the demigod Hercules (11.134–7) his transgression is as theomachic as his emulation (of the human rather than the divine Hercules) is misguidedly flawed.

n the latest step in the recent scholarly revival of Silius Italicus, Stocks (henceforth S.), in ... more n the latest step in the recent scholarly revival of Silius Italicus, Stocks (henceforth S.), in a monograph which is a revised version of her PhD thesis, gives a complex reading a deceptively simple exposition. This book explores Hannibal’s status as a cultural icon and in particular ‘aims to show that Silius Italicus’ Punica should be viewed as the definitive text for Rome’s exploration of Hannibal as a cultural icon’ (53). The Punica is thus a Roman work which explores from a very Roman perspective what it means to be Carthaginian and what the category ‘Carthaginian’ means in Rome. This book is a ‘must read’ for those interested in Silius and Flavian epic more generally, and will be of much use and interest to historians interested in the reception of Hannibal and the creation of his myth. The central idea in this monograph develops the long-standing notion that Hannibal builds to a peak of success which culminates in the middle of Silius’ long epic poem in victory at Cannae, but...

Forthcoming with Oxford University Press, February 2016 Horace’s Epodes rank among the most unde... more Forthcoming with Oxford University Press, February 2016

This is a volume of papers co-edited with Dr Philippa Bather, UCL. Contributors include:

Philippa Bather, Elena Giusti, Ian Goh, Emily Gowers, Tom Hawkins, Andrew Morrison, Ellen Oliensis, Claire Stocks, and Michael Sullivan

Liverpool University Press eBooks, Sep 1, 2014

Item does not contain fulltex

Liverpool University Press eBooks, Sep 1, 2014

University of Toronto Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2019

Liverpool University Press eBooks, Sep 1, 2014

BRILL eBooks, May 9, 2022

Illinois Classical Studies, 2019

Campania in the Flavian Poetic Imagination, 2018

After 69 CE - Writing Civil War in Flavian Rome, 2018

Phoenix, 2018

Abstract:This paper examines anger as a driving force in Roman epic, and especially as a motivato... more Abstract:This paper examines anger as a driving force in Roman epic, and especially as a motivator for Silius Italicus' anti-hero, Hannibal. With Seneca's philosophical discussions of ira as a backdrop, it argues that it is not so much anger, but rather anger in excess that problematizes the epic hero.

Panel on: ‘Fides in Flavian Literature’, co-organised with Antony Augoustakis, at the Annual Meet... more Panel on: ‘Fides in Flavian Literature’, co-organised with Antony Augoustakis, at the Annual Meeting for the Society for Classical Studies, San Francisco. January 2016

Conference on Flavian literature and Campania, Naples (September 2015). Organised by A. Augoustak... more Conference on Flavian literature and Campania, Naples (September 2015). Organised by A. Augoustakis and J. Littlewood

When Decius dares to rebuke Hannibal in Capua at Punica 11.201ff, the Carthaginian responds by fuming like a monster (11.220-1): his eyes flashing fire (11.219); his rage like an elemental force (effundit cuntam rabiem irarumque procellas, 11.224). In his reaction he resembles Virgil’s monstrous Cacus, Vulcan’s creature, who vomits fire when attacked by Hercules (Aen.8.198-9). But in his fiery outburst he also mirrors his surroundings, namely the volcanic area of Campania with its sulphurous swamps and explosive mountains. Such parallels associate Hannibal with the super-natural: a hellish environment and a landscape tied to the underworld (12.120ff). So too in mirroring Cacus, Hannibal offers an image of monstrosity that accentuates his sub-human qualities and confirms historiographic portraits of him as a figure of insatiable cruelty (e.g. Polyb.9.22.8). But whilst Decius reveals the inner-monster in Hannibal, others at Capua see him as divine (e.g. 11.272): pairing him with Hercules through his crossing of the Alps (11.135-7) and perceiving him as one who can hurl thunderbolts (11.339-40). Capua, then, the town that exists on the fissure between the upper and lower worlds also offers conflicting perspectives of Hannibal, as a man, monster, and god.
This paper explores these conflicting personae of Hannibal and argues that they are a reflection of the environment in which Hannibal finds himself: Capua, the town that seeks to rival the divinely-favoured Rome, yet is situated within a volcanic and destructive region, destined to be captured by Fulvius in Book 13. This ‘conflict’ is given further focus through the recurrent images of Hercules – an individual who also suffers from an identity-crisis in the Punica by being both the god of Saguntum (1.273), the superhuman conqueror of monsters (e.g. 3.32-44) and the monstrous man who rapes Pyrene (3.420-33). These references serve as a reminder of the position in which Hannibal, the self-proclaimed rival of Hercules (1.510-12), now finds himself: traversing a path between heaven and hell. Hannibal’s Campania episode thus acts as a microcosm for the struggle that the Carthaginian faces for self-definition in the Punica: both in terms of how he is viewed by others, and how he views himself and his legacy.

Silian scholars have long acknowledged that the opening words of the Punica (1.1 ordior arma), ar... more Silian scholars have long acknowledged that the opening words of the Punica (1.1 ordior arma), are a nod to Livy’s AUC and Virgil’s Aeneid (Feeney 1982), so signaling Silius’ intent to reinvent epic with a decidedly historiographic twist. Since the Romans believed that poetry and history were closely related genres (e.g. Woodman 1988), and since Virgil had already openly challenged the ‘historicity’ of Livy, in that type of aemulatio that was common among ancient writers (Woodman 2012), Silius’ double allusion to the two most canonical works of the Augustan age is hardly surprising. Under Domitian, Flavian epic was driven by a desire to recapture the ‘poetic grandeur’ of the Aeneid, and Silius’ choice to focus on the saga of Hannibal, which he recast in epic terms, allowed him openly to acknowledge also his debt to Livy. Yet Silius’ innovation forced him to negotiate a tense path between the freedom of epic composition (with its focus on mythological exempla and divine intervention) and the relatively more narrow structures of historiography, positioning–in the case of Livy at least–the Second Punic war within the wider framework of Rome’s past. Lucan had already negotiated such a path, by eliminating the gods and creating a visceral anti-epic that broke with the tradition. Silius, on the other hand, through a process of cross-genre allusion, succeeded in creating an epic that plays with the nature of what it means to be Roman without sacrificing the Augustan ideal of Romanitas (as evoked by Livy and Virgil).
In this paper, we focus on the intertextual and intratextual relationships that Silius’ poem activates: we aim to show that, by engaging with Livy’s third decade, Silius intends to write an epic that reinvents the way Rome remembered its own past. Previous scholarship has focused on moments of Livian (and Sallustian) allusion–most notably with regards to the character sketch of Hannibal in Book 1 (Pun.1.56-62, also 1.242-70; Liv. 21.4.2-10; Cat.5.3-5). We propose to take a broader approach, focusing primarily on structure, with consideration of several episodes, notably Cannae (Pun. 9.278-10.325), as illustrations of how Silius manipulates Livy’s framework to elevate the position of Hannibal and Rome’s individualistic generals, most notably Scipio Africanus. In this way, we will demonstrate how Livy’s text works both as “Exemplary Model” and “Code (or Genre) Model” (e.g. Conte-Barchiesi 1989). Key to this discussion will be Silius’ placement of events. For example, Livy places Cannae–the highpoint of Hannibal’s military career–in Book 22, thus portraying Hannibal, in the remaining books, as a ‘declining’ figure (Levene 2010). Silius subverts the Livian structure by repositioning Cannae at the mid-point of the epic, with the second half of the poem covering the remainder of the war up to Zama (Dominik 2006). This manipulation of Livy’s temporal structure lays emphasis on Cannae as the turning-point of the war, and is further enhanced by the invention of a duel between Hannibal and Scipio in this battle (Pun. 9.412-38), which ensures an Aeneid-esque conflict between individuals, with the Carthaginian and Roman portrayed as symbols of their respective states, an idea that is extended through to the battle of Zama in Book 17. Thus, through manipulation of his Livian model, Silius elevates Hannibal from a historiographic framework into the position of an epic (anti-)hero who is both a foil for Rome and representative of all that Rome must embrace (i.e. individualism) in order to win the war, and by extension secure a (Flavian) empire. It is surely no coincidence that, whilst Livy had extended his narrative for another decade, presenting both Hannibal and Scipio as victims of their own success (e.g. 39.52), Silius chooses to end his epic at Zama, with Hannibal uttering curses as he flees (Pun.17.605-15). Silius’ Punica thus shows the benefits that can be garnered in the promotion of Rome’s own self-image, when one utilizes the framework of epic to liberate the heroes of historiography.

Valerius Flaccus’ Medea is a ‘back-to-basics’ approach to a literary icon – a response to Apollon... more Valerius Flaccus’ Medea is a ‘back-to-basics’ approach to a literary icon – a response to Apollonius’ epic heroine before she became the child-killer that we know from Euripides and Seneca. As in Apollonius’ Argonautica, Valerius’ Medea is the girl en route to becoming a legend: mistress of magic, keeper of a serpent, driven by a passion for all things Greek. Yet Valerius appears to make a deliberate choice not to set his Medea on a familiar path, attempting to create a Flavian Medea that is a product of her time and a challenge to her Roman and Greek predecessors. In doing so he echoes the need for Vespasian and his sons to cement and legitimise their political position by over-writing the Neronian and embracing an Augustan and Greek cultural past.
This paper explores this Flavian side to Valerius’ Medea, considering how divergence from her Apollonian predecessor reflects the Flavians’ desire to rewrite the past anew, so echoing Augustus and his program of (Greek) cultural appropriation. But this overt intertextuality comes at a price: whilst initially Valerius’ Medea succeeds in rejecting or reworking her Apollonian et al. models, the constant recall of those texts intrudes upon Valerius’ attempt at novelty. The audience cannot forget the Medea that it already knows, nor can Valerius’ Medea ignore for long the spectre of her literary past. By focusing on select passages from Apollonius’ and Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica(s) – most notably Medea’s repeated crossing of the threshold of her bedroom – this paper aims to show how Valerius’ heroine moves from a new, Flavian, reworking of a Greek past to become trapped in her own literary cycle: forced towards the inevitable moment at which she becomes ‘Medea’. The result is intertextuality that threatens to destabilise Valerius’ new-look world, and new-look Medea, by reminding the audience of the ‘future’ (aka literary past) that she cannot escape.

As the saviour of his father in battle (Pun.4. 454-77) and favourite of the goddess Virtus (Pun.1... more As the saviour of his father in battle (Pun.4. 454-77) and favourite of the goddess Virtus (Pun.15.18-128), Scipio Africanus appears to be a model of morality. An exemplary warrior who marks a shift away from the self-destructive forces of civil war, as exemplified by Lucan’s epic and Rome’s recent past, towards a Flavian model of Augustan renewal with its façade of idealised republicanism. Yet the spectre of civil-strife and Rome’s potential for implosion still loom large. The kin-killings at Saguntum (e.g. Pun.2.617-9), the accidental murder of Satricus by his son Solimus (Pun.9.102-3), and Silius’ apparent use of civil-war names for his soldiers at Cannae have all featured in scholarly studies on the subject (e.g. McGuire, 1995). But little attention has been paid to some of the most prominent brothers in the Punica – those of Hannibal and Scipio – and their significance as symbols for Rome’s latent civil-strife tendencies.
This paper argues in favour of a re-evaluation of the role of these brothers-in-arms. It proposes that, contrary to Livy’s portrayal of the conflict in his Ab Urbe Condita, Silius has deliberately accentuated the role played by Hannibal’s brothers in the war whilst simultaneously downplaying that of Lucius Scipio, brother to Africanus. The result is a projection of Carthage into the role of ‘other’ through which Flavian Rome can safely explore the dangers of fraternal instability amongst its leaders. Conversely, Scipio Africanus, freed from the shackles of brother-hood (Scipios should come in pairs: e.g. ubi sunt nunc fulmina gentis/ Scipiadae? 7.106), becomes a model for one-man rule. As an epic written under Domitian, who constantly sought to move beyond the spectre of his brother, Titus, the Punica thus offers a reading of fraternal strife with a safety valve: Rome cannot ignore its civil-war past, but by showing that threat as one primarily besetting Carthage’s leadership, Silius can indulge in civil-war reflections without upsetting Rome’s most notoriously volatile ‘little brother’.

Recently, a show on the Emperor Domitian at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the Net... more Recently, a show on the Emperor Domitian at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the Netherlands, gave the opportunity to create a game to be used for educational purposes inside the exhibition space. This posed challenges as well as opportunities.