Thomas Biggs - Poetics of the First Punic War

Thomas Biggs

University of Michigan Press

Ann Arbor

Page iv Copyright 2020 by Thomas Biggs

All rights reserved

For questions or permissions, please contact

Published in the United States of America by the

University of Michigan Press

Manufactured in the United States of America

First published November 2020

A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data has been applied for.

ISBN: 978-0-472-13213-3 (Hardcover : alk paper)

ISBN: 978-0-472-12713-9 (ebook)

Digital materials related to this title can be found on the Fulcrum platform via the following citable URL: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11476086

non si mihi linguae

centum atque ora sient totidem uocesque liquatae

I began to work on this project in 2010. After nearly a decade of research, discussion, presentation, critique, rewriting, and unexpected delays, it is truly impossible to record all my gratitude upon its completion. I begin, then, by thanking and asking forgiveness of supporters who do not appear in these acknowledgments.

A first-generation college student studying English and History in Camden, New Jersey, is not an obvious candidate for a career in classics. My professors at Rutgers-Camden sparked an interest in antiquity: without them I would not have taken this path. I single out David Floyd and Robert Lopez (one a classicist in disguise). A well-timed visit to Camden by Corey Brennan led me to New Brunswick, where I found wonderful advisors and teachers, among whom I especially thank Leah Kronenberg (whose support remains unstinting), Lowell Edmunds, Corey Brennan, Tom Figueira, and (then-graduate students) Andrew Scott and Ryan Fowler. I learned what the whole classics thing is about from countless experts at Yale. Chris Kraus, Kirk Freudenburg, Egbert Bakker, Bill Metcalf, Irene Peirano Garrison, Jay Fisher, and Emily Greenwood taught specific courses and independent studies there that helped direct my thinking toward this project. I gained valuable experience with art historical evidence from Lisa Brody and Susan Matheson at the Yale University Art Gallery. For advising my dissertation and for always being there for me, I thank Chris Kraus, again. The other members of my doctoral committee, Emily Greenwood and Damien Nelis, were fantastic. I here note a select few of those whose intellectual engagement and Page viii friendship during graduate school made this book possible: Josh Fincher, Dave Danbeck, Jessica Blum-Sorensen, Ben Jerue, Jonathan Phillips, Bryant Kirkland, Martin Devecka, Maya Gupta, Meghan Freeman, Chris Simon, Niek Janssen, Rachel Love, Jennifer Weintritt, Zach Hertz, Kate Meng Brassel, Josh Billings, Adam Lecznar, and Carolyn Laferriere. Tres Leones receive a second mention for keeping Wooster Square safe.

I am fortunate to have wonderful colleagues and students at the University of Georgia. They have supported this project in various ways, from comments on draft chapters to discussions in class. I particularly thank Peter OConnell, Chuck Platter, Christy Albright, Erika Hermanowicz, and Mario Erasmo. The Willson Center for Humanities and Arts provided financial support in the form of a fellowship in 2017. The Centre for Classical and Near Eastern Studies of Australia at the University of Sydney granted me an Apollo Visiting Fellowship in Classics in 2017, allowing me to be in residence in Sydney, where I made significant progress toward the completion of this book (and had a wonderful time). Conversations with Bob Cowan defined the development of the fifth chapter, and his insights improved several of my larger arguments. I thank Paul Roche, Anne Rogerson, Frances Muecke, Jelle Stoop, and Ben Brown (among others) for conversation, hospitality, and useful comments on this project while I was down under. Twice in the course of completing the project, I benefited from the generosity of the Fondation Hardt pour ltude de lAntiquit classique in Vand uvres Switzerland: I thank Pierre Ducrey, Gary Vachicouras, Pascale Derron, Patricia Burdet, and, last but certainly not least, Heidi Dal Lago.

Since 2014, I have delivered papers and lectured on this project far too many times and on three continents. There is no way to thank every audience, but I single out particularly productive experiences at the University of Virginia, Princeton University, Kings College London, the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Classical Association, the University of Sydney, Florida State University, Emory University, Rutgers University, Stockton University, and Harvard University. For reading pages or talking about ideas that wound up in this project, I thank Chris Kraus, Damien Nelis, Elena Giusti, Nora Goldschmidt, Denis Feeney, Kirk Freudenburg, Lauren Donovan Ginsberg, Claire Stocks, Jackie Elliott, John Miller, Jay Reed, Antony Augoustakis, Joe Farrell, Cynthia Damon, Ray Marks, Christiane Reitz, Simone Finkmann, and many more.