Argonautica

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The Argonautica are an epic by the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Flaccus (1st century AD) in eight books about the journey of the Argonauts to achieve the Golden Fleece . It is a copy of the Argonautica by Apollonios of Rhodes , which the Romans were already familiar with in the translation of Varro Atacinus .

construction

Ride and search

The first four books tell the journey to Colchis : In the first book, Jason receives an order from Pelias to capture the Golden Fleece. While he was preparing the voyage and the Argo was being built, a passionate debate broke out between the gods in Olympus about the Argo's mission . It is about the advantages and disadvantages of - as one would say today - " globalization ": Some gods are of the opinion that one should simply leave the peoples and kings in the East alone, even if they are tyrants, and that even the supreme god has no right to maintain order worldwide according to his taste and to wage wars for it. Jupiter, on the other hand, means that relationships between peoples should be established and that trade and civilization should be promoted, even if that means war.

However, Jason does not know of these great plans when he leaves. Nor does he know that - as soon as he has left - his parents are murdered by the tyrant Pelias.

Books 2-4 then tell of the adventures on the journey, and Books 5-7 of the stay in Colchis.

In the Colchis books, the focus of the story shifts from the Argonauts to the girl Medea , who falls in love with Jason and after a long, torturous struggle with herself or the goddesses who have "bewitched" her, decides to give in to this love To save Jason from certain death etc. She decides against her father and her whole life so far. The dire end of this love, which Euripide's Medea tragedy is about, is actually not told in the Argo epic, but is always hinted at by Valerius; the Kolchis books are therefore - unlike Apollonios - rather creepy and gloomy primed.

The end of the epic

The epic ends abruptly, in the middle of an argument between Medea and Jason, so it is incomplete. The question therefore arises whether the rest was lost due to mechanical loss or whether Valerius was unable to complete the work because of his untimely death. It depends on this question how one interprets the contradictions in the epic (especially between prophecies and their fulfillment): Whereas earlier research was certain that these were errors that the poet wanted to correct, it is now often assumed that it is a nifty intertextual game with the previous versions.

Contemporary history

Another question is even more important for the overall interpretation: what size should the epic have? Should it only contain 8 books (which would mean that the description of the journey home from Colchis should practically be deleted compared to Apollonios), or was Valerius planning 12 books, that is, an extensive description of the journey home? The latter could give the work a completely different focus than it is now conveying. In the opinion of some scholars, Valerius intended his epic primarily to glorify Vespasian's efforts to secure Roman rule in Britain and to open up the seas to shipping in general, since ocean shipping and its consequences were the central theme of the Argonautica are. This view would, of course, be given more weight if it were to be assumed that the Argo would actually make its way into Britain in the later books.

But that must remain speculation. The existing books make an affirmative reference to contemporary wars of conquest appear extremely precarious. It is true that Jupiter, with its expansion concept, wins the discussion on gods; He also indicates that the project should last for many centuries and be completed by a suitable people - in which one can easily recognize the Roman Empire. But the Argonautica themselves do not reveal a particularly optimistic perspective: Jason receives his assignment from Pelias, who, like Aietes , is portrayed as an evil tyrant; his parents are murdered, which shows that Jason has to pay a bitter price for his fame and the plans of the gods, and above all: The Golden Fleece, the pledge of rule and symbol for the transfer of power from east to west, can Jason cannot win it on his own, which is why he has to bring Medea to Greece with the fleece, which means a catastrophic end.

For these reasons, it is more likely - and this also fits better with the genre epic, with which a poet normally strives for immortal fame and no daily political commentary - that Valerius Flaccus reflects on the discourse, the important issues of his time, in a more general way and perhaps wants to point out a dilemma which he regards as fundamental.

Language and narrative

Valerius Flaccus was only valued by a few connoisseurs like Quintilian in antiquity and was hardly received for many centuries. Only in the last few years has it been rediscovered by philological research. Valerius provided the episodic narrative of Apollonius with a clear, stringent structure, an overarching idea and a completely new interpretation, although the changes he made to the plot are actually only minimal. His language is based on Virgil , furthermore Ovid , in the pictures he very often falls back on Homer and there is no lack of originality in detail and really beautiful, shiny passages. But his language is also extremely difficult, sometimes almost hermetic (but the translations are usually not understandable at all). It is also difficult to understand for reasons of content. It requires a lot of previous knowledge, especially a complete knowledge of Apollonios. For these reasons, it will likely remain an “insider tip”.

Editions and translations (some with commentary)

  • Widu-Wolfgang Ehlers (Ed.): Gai Valeri Flacci Setini Balbi Argonauticon libros octo , Stuttgart 1980.
  • Hubert Stadler (Ed.): Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica VII. A Commentary , Hildesheim et al. 1993.
  • Thomas Baier (Ed.): Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica Book VI. Introduction and commentary , Munich 2001.
  • Paul Dräger (Ed.): C. Valerius Flaccus: Argonautica / The mission of the Argonauts . Latin / German, Frankfurt (Main) 2003 (with commentary)

literature

  • Adrianus J. Kleywegt (Ed.): Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, Book I. A commentary. Leiden et al. 2005.
  • Matthias Korn / Hans Jürgen Tschiedel (eds.): Ratis omnia vincet. Investigations on the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus , Hildesheim 1991.
  • Ulrich Eigler / Eckard Lefèvre (eds.): Ratis omnia vincet. New studies on the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus , Munich 1998.
  • Eva Happle: The first three voyage episodes in the Argonautica of Apollonios Rhodios and Valerius Flaccus. Dissertation Freiburg 1957.
  • Gesine Manuwald : The Cyzicus episode and its function in the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus , Göttingen 1999.
  • Peter Schenk: Studies on the poetic art of Valerius Flaccus. Observations on the development of the war theme in the Argonautica , Munich 1999.
  • François colon stone (ed.): Investigations on the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus. Ratis omnia vincet III , Munich 2004.
  • Nikolaus Thurn (Ed.): Adnotationes Bartholomaei Fontii in Valerii Flacci Argonautica. Commentary by Valerius Flaccus , Rahden (Westf.) 2009.