TY - JOUR
T1 - Achilles and the Poetics of Manhood
T2 - Re(de)fining Europe and Asia in Statius' Achilleid
AU - Augoustakis, Antonios
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Project MUSE.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/12/1
Y1 - 2016/12/1
N2 - This article examines the binarism Europe/Asia in Statius' Achilleid as a means to understand the polarities of male/ female, West/East, Greek/barbarian, and ultimately Roman/non- Roman. I demonstrate that Helen's abduction by Paris and the discourse on the succession of empires in Statius' poem refl ect Thetis' own transformation of Achilles into a woman. Through his cross-dressing and the impregnation of Deidamia, marked in the text as a violent attack, Achilles comes of age on the liminally other island of Scyros by replicating Paris' rapina. The "European" Achilles incorporates both the effeminate traits of the East and the warlike manliness of the West; he also ultimately embodies the "Asian" other, which he is destined to conquer.
AB - This article examines the binarism Europe/Asia in Statius' Achilleid as a means to understand the polarities of male/ female, West/East, Greek/barbarian, and ultimately Roman/non- Roman. I demonstrate that Helen's abduction by Paris and the discourse on the succession of empires in Statius' poem refl ect Thetis' own transformation of Achilles into a woman. Through his cross-dressing and the impregnation of Deidamia, marked in the text as a violent attack, Achilles comes of age on the liminally other island of Scyros by replicating Paris' rapina. The "European" Achilles incorporates both the effeminate traits of the East and the warlike manliness of the West; he also ultimately embodies the "Asian" other, which he is destined to conquer.
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U2 - 10.1353/clw.2016.0008
DO - 10.1353/clw.2016.0008
M3 - Article
SN - 0009-8418
VL - 109
SP - 195
EP - 219
JO - Classical World
JF - Classical World
IS - 2
ER -