Statius and Epic Games: Sport, Politics, and Poetics in the Thebaid (review)

This is a clearly delineated and tightly focused project: a study of the games in book 6 of Statius' Thebaid. Statius' games give the aition for the Nemean games; like the games in the Aeneid, which celebrate the anniversary of Anchises' death, the context is funereal. They are held in honor of the child Opheltes (Archemorus), who was fortuitously crushed by a giant serpent while his nurse, Hypsipyle, related the story of the crime of the Lemnian women and her own affair with Jason to the Argive leaders. The games mark the end of the first half of the epic, and constitute the final digression before the battle narrative begins. The games are also a ludic prelude to the war that follows, a microcosm of the agon that unfolds in the second half of the epic. Both structurally and thematically, they are central to the poem.

Lovatt devotes one chapter to each of the events in Statius' games: the chariot race, the footrace, the discus, the boxing, the wrestling, the sword fight, and the archery competition. Her methodology is straightforward: she uses the games as a way to reread Statius' interaction with his epic predecessors and contemporaries, and uses them to explore themes and motifs that reverberate throughout the Thebaid as a whole. Thus, each chapter is structured around an intertextual analysis of Statius' sources followed by an intratextual analysis that takes a theme from the event and traces it through the rest of the poem. The bibliography is comprehensive, and on the whole this is a clearly written and engaging book, though there are some non sequiturs and points where transitions between ideas could be clearer.

The introduction is a bit of a hodgepodge, lumping together a (very) brief examination of Roman concepts of games, a survey of how epic poets refer to their games, Roman epic writers' playing of Vergil against Homer in their treatment of games, and a comparison of the programs of the games in Homer, Vergil, Silius, and Statius with the programs of the Olympic games and the Roman ludi circenses. These are all interesting topics, but how they fit together conceptually is unclear, and they receive rather cursory treatment. Sadly lacking is a discussion of the games within the structure of the poem as a whole, and particularly their relationship to the bizarre story of Hypsipyle and Opheltes in book 5.

Lovatt comes into her own, however, when she turns to close readings of the text. Space does not permit a summary of her many fine observations; let me cite a few representative points. She clearly shows that throughout book 6 "there is a persistent stream of imagery about the process of writing, reacting to poetry itself, a metanarrative in which he explores intertextual competitions, and reflects on the role of epic poetry under Domitian" (25). Her careful attention to Statius' multiple sources amply demonstrates how Statius' highly crafted, densely allusive text rewards close reading. The related themes of audience, spectator, and spectacle are examined from various viewpoints in the different chapters; chapter 2 in particular brings out the political dimensions of spectacles and competitions in imperial Rome. Chapter 4, "The Boxing," explores the play of national identities in the Thebaid, and in so doing makes some significant points about how Vergil constructs and complicates Roman identity in the Aeneid. Chapter 7, "The Archery," ends with a fine discussion of the emphasis on lack of control in the archery competition and its relation to the poetics of the epic as a whole: "It is not clear that Statius himself is even in control of his poem, as it veers chaotically into digression and excess. The teleological drive of epic narrative carries us into ever more horrific atrocity: there is no moral centre to this poem" (305). Lovatt is clearly not of the school that finds order and reconciliation at the end of the poem. Criticism...