In Punica3, the poet manipulates the complexities of traditional representations of Hercules to illustrate how Hannibal imitates the demigod's conduct as it is portrayed in the aetiological tale of Pyrene's rape and death. Just as Pyrene's blood stains the homonymous mountains in Spain, Hannibal's army is afflicted with much woe and suffering when crossing the Alps. Verbal echoes from Pyrene's dismemberment throughout the book confirm that the female is not viewed as an object of pathos but rather as a sign "posted" in the narrative in order to foreshadow, but not avert, the disasters that await the male protagonist.

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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 reflect 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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