Tebaida

by Publius Papinius Statius, Publiusz Papiniusz Stacjusz, Mieczysław Brożek (Translator)

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Genres: Classics, Poetry, Epic, Mythology, Fiction, Literature, Roman

298 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 90

About the author

Publius Papinius Statius (Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; /ˈsteɪʃiəs/, Latin: [ˈstaːtiʊs];[a] c. 45 – c. 96) was a Latin poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the Thebaid; a collection of occasional poetry, the Silvae; and an unfinished epic, the Achilleid. He is also known for his appearance as a guide in the Purgatory section of Dante's epic poem, the Divine Comedy.

Reviews

[Evan Leach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is slightly more spoilery than usual, because (1) the book is like 2,000 years old and (2) 99% of the people who are going to read it will be familiar with the basic plot anyway.

The Thebaid is a great subject for an epic poem. It was featured in Aeschylus’ tantalizing tragedy, The Seven Against Thebes., but most readers of the classics will be familiar with the story by way of Sophocles’ Antigone, arguably the greatest tragedy from all antiquity.* King Oedipus of Thebes leaves his throne to his two sons (Eteocles and Polynices) to share: each is to rule for a year and then hand the scepter off to his brother. Eteocles gets to go first, and at the end of the year decides he’d rather not step down after all. Polynices raises an army and attacks Thebes, where all hell breaks loose. The Thebans stubbornly defend the city’s seven gates as the seven heroes of Polynices’ army die one by one in epic fashion: swallowed by the earth, battling river gods, or even zapped by Jupiter himself. The carnage culminates in a grim one-on-one battle between the two brothers.


Brotherly love.

However, despite its exciting subject matter the Thebaid is viewed as a second-rate epic and is not widely read (although this perception may be shifting). I’ll address its problems first before moving on to what the poem does well.

The Bad: Problems in Silver Age Epic

There are three common criticisms of “Silver Age” (post-Augustan, i.e., after 14 AD) Latin epic: it’s too violent, too derivative, and it features an unappealing style. The first criticism doesn’t really apply to Statius’ epic; while it is very violent indeed, I never felt it was truly lurid like Lucan’s Pharsalia or some of Seneca’s tragedies (with the exception of one crazy scene where a dying hero starts gnawing on his killer’s severed head). The second criticism is more on the mark. Silver Age poets (Lucan excepted) copied their predecessors Homer and Virgil to an obsessive degree. They slavishly made sure that every specific set piece was included: the gathering of armies, the requisite trip to the underworld, a gaming competition, etc. Statius dutifully stuffs all of this into the first half of his epic, which takes place over three years, and at times I thought it would take me three years to get through it all. Whatever its other merits, the Thebaid is not a particularly original poem, and if you’ve read your Homer & Virgil much of the Thebaid is going to feel familiar.

The derivative nature of Silver Age epic creates a problem of style. Because Silver Age poets felt constrained by tradition to tackle certain themes in certain ways, they relied on their poetic style to distinguish themselves from their peers. This causes epics like the Thebaid to feel a little overwritten, stuffed to the gills with metaphors, allusions, and references as they are. All-in-all I didn’t feel like the Thebaid was too bad in this respect, but it definitely felt a little overstuffed.

The Good

Most of the poem’s problems are in its first half, as Statius struggles to jam every paint-by-numbers Homeric trope into the first six books. But once Polynices and his army finally get to Thebes in book seven, the poem becomes a lot of fun. Statius has a knack for portraying battles in the epic style, and each of the Argive heroes gets a memorable sendoff. The culminating fratricidal battle between Eteocles and Polynices is built up well and is suitably tragic and horrifying. Readers that liked The Illiad or the second half of the Aeneid will enjoy this part of the book:

”To this point, war made a gallant show: plumes stood upright,
each horse had a rider, no chariot lacked a driver;
arms were all well ordered – the shields and elegant quivers
and belts glowed, their gold not yet dulled and smutched with gore.
But, once raging Madness and Courage, careless of life,
had released their force, no arctic storm, unleashed as the Kids
set, lashes high Rhodope with blizzards so blinding;
nor is there such a din in Ausonia when Jupiter’s thunder
crashes across the sky; nor does Sidra quake under such
hail when a Norther, black with Italian storms, blasts Libya.”

Good stuff.

While the ornateness of Statius’ verse can be a little much, he clearly was a very learned man and not without talent. The constant allusions and sly references can be interesting, and while he’s no Virgil, I enjoyed Statius' style more often than not.

Conclusion

Overall I thought the good outweighed the bad in this epic. It’s not particularly original and feels occasionally overwritten, but it’s exciting, entertaining, and definitely has that epic feel. After languishing in obscurity for most of the 20th century, Statius has found new life and a couple of new translations have appeared in recent years (I read the Jane Wilson Joyce version, which was well done and has extensive notes, although there are an unusually high number of typographical errors). I would not recommend this poem to somebody who hasn’t read the Aeneid first. But if you’ve read that, and you loved it and are looking for more of the same, give this underrated classic a go. 3.5 stars, recommended (with reservations).

*Although if we’re keeping score, I’d give top honors to Euripides’ delightfully dark “The Bacchae,” with “Antigone” a close second.

[Jesús De la Jara · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Es éste el premio, y la merced es ésta,
por tantas amistades merecida?
¿Así te pago en guerra tan funesta,
oh suprema esperanza de mi vida?
¿Tanto mi loca pretensión me cuesta,
corona infame, en vano pretendida,
que en aquesta enemiga tierra mía
muerto estás y yo vivo todavía?"

Una gran alegría haber leído este poema épico también clásico en el cual cumplió mis principales expectativas que eran sobre todo conocer mucho más de este episodio legendario de la invasión tebana dirigida por el rey Adrasto y gracias a Polinices. Éste, hijo de Edipo, se vio separado de su derecho a heredar el trono de Tebas una vez que pasó la tragedia de su padre y Eteocles, su hermano, se quedó en el puesto. En esas circunstancias Polinices va como desterrado a Argos donde lo recibe el rey Adrasto quien gracias a una profecía da a sus hijas en matrimonio, Argía a Polinices y Deípile a Tideo, el famoso padre del futuro Diómedes. Juntos y con la ayuda de otros héroes tratarán de invadir Tebas y devolver el trono a Polinices.
Este episodio en general ha sido abordado en el "Siete contra Tebas" de Esquilo y en "Las fenicias" de Eurípides pero claro, la cantidad de detalles aquí son más abundantes y de hecho que Estacio también debe haber introducido algunas variaciones al mito.
No sólo se cuenta las hazañas de ambos bandos sino también el autor incluye perspectivas de todo tipo incluso políticas sobre su propia manera de pensar, disertaciones religiosas y desde luego lo que toda épica tiene, amistad, amores, luchas, valentía, cobardía y un largo etcétera.
Me gustó por sobre todo conocer detalles que ignoraba como la muerte de un esposo de Ismene, hija de Edipo, la bizarría de Meneceo el hijo de Creonte en el momento crucial, la disputa de los dioses por defender la ciudad de Tebas, la alegría de ellos al castigar a un luchador muy perjuro. El episodio donde Tideo se ve rodeado de 50 tebanos. Una de las cosas que no conocía era la gran amistad de Tideo con Polinices, parecido a otras como la de Pirítoo y Teseo o la de Aquiles y Patroclo, y es que EStacio aprovecha también bastante para demostrar su conocimiento en otras fuentes de mito y las comparaciones son muy buenas.
Un texto clásico muy agradable para los que quieran profundizar en este episodio legendario de la mitología griega.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review of the Jane Wilson Joyce translation--everything that a good translation of a Latin classic should be. Statius has been considered second-rate for a long time; but Dante put him among the saved in Purgatory, a distinction that even his beloved Virgil could not have. This translation is a good start in getting past the last century's opinion that the poem isn't really about very much. Joyce shows that, if nothing else, it is about the utter futility of war and the transience of even genuine glory. There is no hope for human justice when the gods are as inattentive and mutually hostile as they are presented here. It is about how the feud between two princely brothers can lead to seemingly endless death and destruction. (Statius was writing during the reign of Domitian who had in a way been a rival of his brother Titus, the destroyer of Jerusalem.) This edition is beautifully translated, vigorous, startlingly vivid, poetic in its own right. And accurate. Time and again I thought "Surely that's not in the Latin," but when I checked I was wrong. I was wondering what Dante in particular must have liked, and I suppose it was partly the beauty and accuracy of many similes involving nature. Here is one:

like some river pressing the piers of an old oak bridge, its
wearying waters battering hard; soon, stone seams gape, and
timbers are shifted; feeling them move, the river, with salt-
sea surge and ever more violence, shakes and drags at the weakened
structure until its swift current snaps all the moorings
and then, victorious, sighs with a flow unimpeded.

Dante would also have liked Statius' repeated blending of natural, supernatural, and mythical, as when Ismenos is the god of the river of the same name, living in a cave beneath the waves, loving his daughters the nereids, and is also somehow the river itself considered in its full length from its source to the sea, and is also the force of the water that pitilessly drowns so many soldiers indiscriminately, fighters on both sides of the war, futilely continuing to fight even as they drown. This edition comes with an illuminating introduction, separate introductions to each of the twelve books, an outline of each book, generous explanatory notes, and a very welcome (and necessary) glossary of names.

[Robin V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good translation, readible yet refrains from really modernized language (something that I find a shame in Emily Wilson's translations of the Il. And Od.).

Wrote my thesis on this epic, one passage specifically, so I got really into the story and how it connects to Statius' time. Tydeus was definitely my favorite character (no surprise, I focused on him in my thesis). Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. A lesser known epic but definitely worth reading.

[Bill FromPA · Rating 4 out of 5]

This doesn’t have the immediate human appeal of the Homeric epics nor any incident to match the drama and pathos of the Carthage section of The Aeneid. It’s more like an action movie: two characters, in this case Oedipus’ sons, the brothers Polyneices and Eteocles, come into conflict at the beginning of the tale and the action builds to their ultimate confrontation at the end. Or almost the end; the final conflict occurs in Book 11, but there is still the 12th book which ties up various loose ends. In his introduction, D. W. T. Vessey cites commentators who see the last book as an unnecessary addition; but if the reader is to take the lack of funeral rites for the Argive dead in the final battle as seriously as the characters do, the extended ending is essential.

The poem’s subject matter mostly repeats and elaborates on the stories of Euripides’ The Phoenician Women and The Suppliant Women and, as with those plays, there are some major differences from the Theban plays of Sophocles.

One of Statius’ strengths and his major weakness can be seen in this passage from Book 4:

There stands a wood, full of long years and bent
In sturdy age, it foliage never shorn,
Not pierced by any sun; no winter’s cold
Has shrunk it and the south wind has no power
Or northern gales that buffet from the Bear.
Below lies shrouded quiet, and an awe
That’s nameless guards the silence and a pale
Ghost of light banished gives an eerie gleam.
Nor lacks the gloom a god. Latona’s cult
Is present in the grove; her effigies
In cedar, pine and wood of every tree are hidden in the forest’s hallowed shade.
Unseen her arrows whistle through the wood,
Her hounds bay in the night when she has fled
Her uncle’s portals and resumes afresh
Her fair Diana’s face, or when the hills
Have tired her and the sun in high noon heat
Invites sweet sleep, with all her javelins
Planted around her and her head inclined
Upon her quiver, here she rests at peace.

The opening description of the forest is wonderfully evocative, but each of the last two sentences quoted requires an endnote for the modern reader:

her effigies: The daughter of Latona had three divine manifestations: as the Moon, as the huntress Diana, and as Hecate, the chthonic deity of magical arts.

her uncle’s portals: The uncle is Dis, lord of the Underworld and of the dead.

These allusions to myth are pretty dense in some sections of the poem – they’re almost never self contained narratives like the story of Vulcan and Venus in The Odyssey, but mere hints or pieces of stories whose full understanding requires turning to Vessey’s extensive endnotes.

When Statius manages to shelve his tendency toward mythic allusion, which is most prominent early in the poem, he can work up very effective narrative momentum. There are several absorbing set-pieces in each book. The funeral games described in Book 6 and the war against Thebes in Books 7-11 proceed at a headlong pace with only occasional breaks, such as when the gods, as in The Iliad, debate the extent of the interference on the part of one side or the other.

Statius holds nothing back in his graphic descriptions of violence, as this example from Book 9, far from the most explicit, shows:

Eurytion fell more cruelly, his left eye
Gouged by a three-barbed arrow’s cunning point.
Arrow and eye together he ripped out
And charged his foe. But what can they not do,
The gods’ brave weapons? In the other eye
A twin wound clinched his darkness. Even so, by memory he kept his shocking course
Till he tripped on Idas’ prostrate form
And fell. The wretch lay writhing there amid
War’s savage slaughter, begging friend and foe
For death.

[Charles Hull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely the most grim of the ancient epics I've read thus far, enjoyably so.
Some great moments, grizzly deaths, and I particularly loved the damning representation of power. Juppiter is an absolute bastard.

The translation is great, the commentary and glossary are excellent at painting the broader picture and illuminating the subtle themes and messages throughout.

This epic isn't quite as compelling as Virgil, Homer, or Ovid's (haven't read Lucan's yet) but if you're the kind of person who is even considering reading the Thebaid you will probably enjoy it.

[Illiterate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Statius’ world is grotesque horror, not heroic glory. Princes (arrogant power) bring curses (gory death).

[Masha Kly · Rating 3 out of 5]

«Рукописей “Фиваиды” столь много, что справедливо предположить: у Стация было больше переписчиков в Средние века, чем читателей в наши дни»

Сложно читать, но я узнала много нового.
Самые приятные для меня и понятные мне моменты - разговоры с матерью, горечь разлуки, мысли сестры. Пыл битвы такой и мифологические вставки мне уже не так близки.

[CivilWar · Rating 4 out of 5]

In short: a 10/10 translation of a truly great epic poem, better than the Aeneid in all honesty.

In full originality, Statius makes out of the original War of the Seven Against Thebes a gothic epic grimmer than anything written out of the vast mythological Greco-Roman material. The black and white struggle of Eteokles, "Truly Glorious", against Polynikes, "Much Strife", from the original cycle of epics and the (also excellent) Aeschylus play disappears entirely here for something more inspired by that tyrannical micromanaging crusher of corruption that nonetheless set up Rome for centuries of peace, Domitian, as Eteokles, a paranoid tyrant, sends away his brother Polynikes instead of alternating the throne in bipartite sovereignty, thus starting a massive war when the latter comes back with an Argive army and a coalition of six other warrior princes, ready to sack Thebes.

The descriptions of warfare here are more like Lucan than Virgil: whereas Homer kept things bloody and realistic but also quick and clean, here the violence relishes in disgusting, visceral, realistic detail of amputations, broken bones, infected gashes, chariots grinding down on the fallen, prostrate troops, too injured and exhausted to move away, etc. The scene where the summer heat evaporates all of water and delays the Argives, who quickly devolve into savagery is an incredibly example of the poem's fixation with what's inhumane, savage and terrible in warfare, presenting it as dirty and disgusting rather than keeping the princely dignity of its participants as Homer did:

Their loud shouts echo from Ambracian shores.
The leaders and their men swam through the flood;
thirst leveled them; there was no sense of order,
no way to separate the mingled ranks.
Horses hauled chariots or dragged along
their armored riders; some were carried off;
some slipped on glistening rocks; none were ashamed
to tread on kings the current swept away
or trample drowning friends who called for aid.
The rapids roared. Far from the river’s source,
the channel that was formerly translucent—
a slow, green stream of crystal pools—now swirled
with mud stirred from its depths, with chunks of bank
and clumps of loosened grass and sod. Men drank
the silt and flowing filth, although their thirst
had ended. You would think you saw armed ranks
in righteous battle, raging in the torrent,
or conquerors consume a captured city.

No dignity is kept for its participants here: in fact, all of the Seven are, rather than Homeric princes, outright demonic in character, to the point it makes me wonder if the concept of the seven demonic warriors sacking a city did not get transferred to Theban myth by the Near Eastern immigrants there who brought the Poem of Erra with them, with its depiction of Nergal and his demonic Sebitti ("The Seven") sacking Babylon and laying waste to everything. Amphiarus is a seer that is swallowed up by the earth, Hippomedon is a giant that has to be drowned by a river-god's flood to be stopped, Tydeus - the most savage and my favorite - commits warrior cannibalism, Capaneus challenges the gods and is struck down by lightning... all of these are demons in heroic form, removed of all princely khvarenah and melam and instead filled with pure demonic rage.

When Tydeus first meets Polynikes, what causes them to become friends is a brutal fight over who can sleep in a shitty stable during a storm. But this scene, otherwise so reminiscent of the wrestling fight between Enkidu and Gilgamesh, is written by Statius to show how immediately these two men will resort to the most brutal of violence, the most anti-social extremes:

A little they delayed, exchanging threats,
but doing so, grew vexed. Each stood erect,
uncovered his bare shoulders, then attacked.
The Theban’s step was faster, his reach long,
and he was fresh in years; but Tydeus had
a soul and heart as large, and greater strength
owed through his smaller body to his limbs.
They aimed quick jabs head-high, redoubling blows
around the ears and temples, flurries thick
as flights of arrows or Rhipaean hail,
then bent their knees to pummel hollow flanks.
Not otherwise than when the games recur
at Pisa, where they honor Jupiter,
and the dust burns with crude, hot sweat of men,
where youthful athletes are made violent
by squabbles in the stands, while, shut outside,
their mothers wait to hear who wins the prize,
just so, these hotheads clashed, and, quick to hate,
had no regard for praise. They sank their nails
deep in the other’s face and naked eyes.
Surely—what won’t rage do?—they would have bared
their side-borne swords, and you, young Theban, would
have fallen—and been better off, mourned by
your brother—had the king, astonished by
the strange commotion in the dark of night
and harsh cries from deep throats, not taken steps.

In short, what is Homeric is changed fundamentally by what is Lucanian about it, what is grim and gothic paints all the Homeric scenes and structure, copied from Virgil almost as if satirizing the latter for making every scene a redo of Homer. Even the funeral games are depicted as violent and vain glory-seeking over a cult that earns no merit.

The translation by Charles Stanley Ross is beyond excellent, beyond excellent. Written in perfectly smooth iambics, making use of rhyme where it can, using high-flown english where appropriate without ever resorting to pseudo-archaisms... the translator attended a seminar on how translation of Latin poetics requires full use of English poetic tools and it shows. It might actually beat the original Latin, do I dare say? In any case, I cannot imagine a better translation.

All in all, an unmissable classic - do not listen to the hacks of the 19th and early 20th century, people who have no taste for anything but philology. This is as good as Latin epic gets.

[Francisco Javier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una obra maestra, sin duda un gran descubrimiento. Estacio, autor del Imperio Romano, compone sobre mitos antiguos griegos una narración increíble. Os lo recomiendo a todos los que os guste lo griego.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finding all entrails foreboding, the priest
went pale but, for the army’s sake, pretended to have hope.

Statius’s Thebaid is a fascinating, hopeless epic describing the sons (or stepbrothers, if you prefer) of Oedipus vying for kingship of Thebes. It’s unrelenting and darkly pessimistic. Basically, everybody dies horrible deaths and, in the end, nothing is settled. The Olympian Gods are more fickle and flaky than is usual. More importantly, they are subservient to agents of fate. When Jove tells his peers, “Well, there’s nothing we can do because it’s fated,” one questions their efficacy.

Like any ancient epic, there’s issues. First, there’s too many unnecessary references and allusions in this text. Statius loves to show off his knowledge of geography and mythical history. Second, there’s no real hero to root for—everyone—Gods, humans, demi-gods--is despicable. Finally, the text is maudlin—even babies are devoured by wolves or killed by giant serpents. This is, in essence, a grim piece of literature.

Yet, I love what Jane Wilson Joyce has translated. Her introduction, footnotes, and endnotes do an excellent job of showing the artistry of Statius and how he elevates his source material. Without Joyce providing background and context, this epic would have remained an unintelligible artifact of Roman literature. I’m glad I took the time to delve in and appreciate all that Joyce does to bridge the chasm between Statius and my world.

Which of the Gods was it who,
while I prayed, stood close by and passed my impetuous words
on to the Fates? Frenzy did this, and an Erinys, and
my father, my mother, my kingdom, my falling eyes—I did
nothing, so help me Dis, so help me sweet Dark, and my
innocent guide: so, let me descend to the Pit by a death I
deserve, let me not be spurned by the furious shade of Laius!
Ah me—what a welter of brothers, what wounds I touch!

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely LOVED it. Seriously, people are sleeping on Statius!!

And I fully recommend the A.S. Kline translation, which is both in verse and very easy to follow. It's all free here: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/P...

[Anjanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of the sons of Oedipus. After Oed learns he's been schtupping his mom, he gouges out his eyes and his sons Eteocles and Polynices agree to alternate the rule of Thebes. But Et doesn't want to give up the throne when it's time. So Poly roams around and eventually settes in Argos. But apparently he keeps grumbling about this kingdom that's supposed to be his, so everyone goes to war. Some stories and the warfare descriptions sound like Quentin Tarantino's wet dreams. At one point there's a story about a town full of women who get ticked off that their husbands have gone to war, so they kill all their male children. When the husbands return, they kill them too. Then a snake eats a baby alive. There's lots of spears and arrows jutting through eyes and through heads so the points stick out through the mouth. Lots of wandering around in blood and gore. And then there's the hero who asks for the head of the man who's delivered his fatal wound so he can eat it. I enjoyed it, but it's so long it gets tiresome. If you're really into that blood & guts stuff, I would suggest seeing if there's a prose version. I have to admit, I found it very cinematic. I could easily see some of the shots in my head. QT should make a movie out of it.

[Nathan Jerpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Statius is the Quentin Tarantino of Latin Epic. It's been awhile since I've encountered such a gruesome tale.

As far as I know, this is our only extant epic from The Theban Cycle (as opposed to the more familiar Trojan Cycle, comprised of eight epics or so? The Iliad and The Odyssey are the only ones we have). I'm sure this fact alone would make it of primal significance to classical scholars.

For me The Thebaid's significance lies in the way it serves as a reflection of The Iliad, which of all the classical epics we have is probably The Thebaid's closest relative. I've had trouble penetrating The Iliad before, but with Statius' work in hand I think I can better assess the shape of it, its rhythms, its density of allusions. All the better to make the climb.

Dante assigned Vergil as his guide in The Inferno, but once we get to Purgatory the guide is Statius. I'm not sure what this means, is he second only to Vergil? for instance, but hey if Dante namedrops him then he's probably worth visiting.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love roman epic, Greek epic, classical tragedy, classical comedy... I just can't bring myself to like Statius. I found him underwhelming and slow, attention seeking and kind of a suck up. I know it is Silver Latin so this shouldn't come as a surprise, but I feel like Statius missed the train that other Roman writers hopped on in the fine line between being obnoxious and being cheeky.

[Portia Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Sophocles' Oedipus plays, a rich and rewarding experience follows with Statius and The Thebaid.

[bookish_magpie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent work by Statius. Will probably try to read this again but in Latin over the summer. Lots of gore, symbolism, and heroic/tyrannical epic-ness. 5 stars.

[F · Rating 5 out of 5]

La Tebaida es una poesia epica que estuvo 12 años escribiendo Estacio y se siente el cuidado que puso en cada verso, donde los temas principales son la codicia, las penas y por sobre todo la inevitabilidad del hado, un poco representando la cosmovision de su epoca, el destino es tan inevitable que ni el propio Zeus puede hacer algo para evitarlo y esto va a resultar en una Tebas diezmada con los dos hijos varones de Edipo muertos a causa del pecado del padre y de la codicia de estos.
Aunque no conocia a este autor el estudio preliminar de la version que tengo da un breve pantallazo de porque esto sucede, es conocido solo por unos pocos y es que la grandeza de la Eneida opaco a toda poesia epica romana anterior y posterior. En los versos finales Estacio desea que su Tebaida sobreviva y sea recordada, da cuenta de la grandeza de la Eneida y espera que su obra sigue por el mismo camino que la obra de Virgilio.
Al ser una obra de la literatura romana se ve una mayor importancia por lo estetico, los dioses siguen teniendo su papel pero lo importante son las acciones de los hombres y mujeres.

[Paul Groos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gelezen in de Engelse vertaling van A.S. Kline. Nogal een kluif. De Thebais is lang bekritiseerd als inhoudsloos. Daar ben ik het wel mee eens. Er zijn vooral eindeloze beschrijvingen van gevechten waarin helden op de meest creatieve manieren om het leven komen. Lange lijsten van strijders. En dan af en toe een klein verhaaltje, zoals de wonderlijke dood van Amphiaraos, het horrorverhaal over Tydeus of hoe Capaneus de wallen bestormt. Die verhaaltjes zijn aardig, maar ook vooral bloederig. Statius lijkt vooral te genieten van zulke episodes, nu eens zegt hij de oorlog te verafschuwen, vooral vanuit het perspectief van de toch wat eendimensionale vrouwen, maar veel vaker lijkt het meer een soort oorlogspropaganda te zijn. Hij wil heel graag de poeta doctus uithangen en verwijst eindeloos naar de meest obscure mythen. En geeft niet altijd heel geslaagde Homerische vergelijkingen op cruciale ogenblikken, opvallend vaak met runderen in de hoofdrol.
Niet echt een genoegen om te lezen dus.

[Milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Statius's epic, though little celebrated in modernity, is a worthy recipient of it's laurels. He has a way with characterization of his main cast, in a way unique and real-seeming, reminiscent of Homer. His descriptions of death and battle have a creativity and horror that feels at times Ovidian. Fraternal feuds and the futility of war, are central to Statius. His characterization of the gods, and deified powers is interesting in its own right, with Vergilian elements but wholly his own.

The read was much more engaging and captivating than I expected. The characters are well lined out and the interpersonal drama has a weight to it (something which too felt of Ovid).

I am glad to have read it after the Aeneid and Metamorphoses, considering how much my reading of those texts has aided my experience of this one, in references and in background information, in style and in differences.

[Caomhghain · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting latish Latin epic which became immensely popular well into and up to the Renaissance. Dante features Statius in the Commedia and shows his influence frequently. It is an epic of the seven against Thebes and relates quite strongly to the Aeneid. The language is frequently more florid and the epic similes are often gloriously long. Occasionally Statius has problems fitting his narrative into the Vergilian form - the Games episode is for an infant inadvertently killed, for instance. All in all not the greatest of epics but well worth the read. Interestingly it foreshadows the late popularity of allegory with a number of allegorical figures featuring - Piety and Virtue come to mind. This was to be much expanded by Prudentius later on.

[Kent McCormick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal, beautiful, and relentlessly tragic. This is an epic that plunges deep into the moral wreckage of civil war, divine indifference, and familial doom. I was especially struck by the poem’s exploration of fate, pride, and the legacy of inherited sin. The gods are chaotic, the heroes are doomed, and even love and loyalty are devoured by violence. Every major theme (glory, justice, vengeance, grief) unfolds with crazy intensity. It’s not just a war story, it’s a lament for the human condition.

[Alex Pler · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Que ames la luz incluso al verte atrapado".

A menudo me preguntaba si ninguno de los escritores de Roma puso en duda el sistema imperial. Estacio parece criticarlo con este poema épico contra el poder absoluto. A través de escenas salvajes, muy gráficas y de ritmo impetuoso, describe la guerra civil a la que se ven abocados decenas de pueblos por defender a dos hermanos sedientos de poder. Toda una sorpresa, para mí a la altura o incluso por encima de la Eneida de Virgilio.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are grand moments. The heroic dirge of Amphiaraus in book 7 (and his subsequent journey to the underworld in book 8) can genuinely be compared to the finest scenes of the Iliad. The attention paid to the role of non-combatants (women, children, the elderly) has a striking authenticity. The narration however, wanders much.
3.5 stars

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Virgil pales in comparison to Homer and Statius pales in comparison to Virgil. I really like the (unfortunately) unfinished Achilleid, but didn’t enjoy his Thebaid. But. Still glad I jumped in and took a look around.

[mills !! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heavily violent as expected from Silver Age epic, almost too derivative and never really felt as lurid as some of Seneca's works in similar veins. The first half had such heavy allusion it was a tad distracting, which then appeared to dissipate hugely in the second half and was a bit more welcome, while I enjoyed the nods to previous epics, it was slightly heavy-handed and could've been done with a bit less familiarity.

That being said, the second, less serious half was a really fun read, the built up brotherly battle was as memorable as promised and his style did really capture the epic feel, characterisation was truly personal and Statius' unique spins on Argive battle scenes were very welcomed and enjoyed!

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

合上书仿佛逃离了一个喷吐毒雾的蛇坑。但丁选了这么一位向导带他爬山也是心挺大的……XD

[Casandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for my Roman Horror Literature class at University.

3.0 stars

[Cynthia Jimenez · Rating 2 out of 5]

only chapters 6 and 12 were good, i absolutely loathed reading this

[Mackenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could not tell you what happened but I did enjoy it (mostly)