Ennius and the Invention of Roman Epic

Ennius and the Invention of Roman Epic
A panel held January 4, 2004 at the annual meeting of the American Philological Association in San Francisco, California. Organized by Andreola Rossi (Amherst College) and Brian W. Breed (University of Massachusetts at Amherst).
Introduction	Papers	Original call for papers	Contact the organizers
This panel aims to reassess Ennius in his roles as pater of Roman poetry and writer of annals in light of renewed interest in problems relating to the rather sudden appearance of literature at Rome in the third and second centuries BC. Habinek in The Politics of Latin Literature connects the development of literature as a political medium to the emergence of new social structures, especially the competition between sectors of the Roman aristocracy each seeking to advance its interests over and against other sources of social and political authority. In light of this approach and considering Ennius’ position at the crossroads of a number of separate cultural and literary traditions–Greek, Italian, and Roman, epic and historiographical–we invite papers that focus on one of the following three areas: 1) Ennius and his work in the contemporary social context. 2) *The relationship of the Annales* to the diversity of previous traditions*. 3) The reception of the Annales*.
Papers Ennius at the Banquet Sander Goldberg, UCLA Cultural Thefts and Social Contests in Ennius’ Annales and Cato the Censor’s Origines Enrica Sciarrino, University of Canterbury "Dic, si quid potes, de sexto annali ...": The literary legacy of Ennius’ Pyrrhic War Elanie Fantham, Princeton Cicero, Ennius, and the Advent of Ruler Cult at Rome Spencer Cole, Columbia The Poet at War: Ennius on the Field in Silius' Punica Sergio Casali, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"
Contact the organizers by e-mail:
Andreola Rossi (afrossi_at_amherst.edu)			Brian W. Breed (bbreed_at_classics.umass.edu)