Ecphrasis, Interpretation, and Audience in Aeneid 1 and Odyssey 8

Abstract

In the first ecphrasis in Vergil's Aeneid (1.441–94) describing Dido's temple to Juno through the eyes of Aeneas, Aeneas comes across as an isolated and confused interpreter of images of his sufferings: he understands the images he sees in one way, while the external audience understands them and his interpretation of them differently. Odysseus is neither alone nor confused when he hears Demodocus' songs in Odyssey 8. Moreover, the Odyssey—unlike the Aeneid—sees art as a basically straightforward and positive force in human life. Vergil draws on this contrast to depict Aeneas and interpretation in Aeneid 1.

‘Unbounded Views’: Incomplete Ekphrasis and the Visual Imagination in Virgil

“…A much discussed passage: see (inter al.) Johnson (1976), 99-105;Segal (1981); Clay (1988); Fowler (1991); Lowenstam (1993); Putnam (1998), 23-54;Beck 2007;Farrell (2012), 294-304. 94. Smith (2005), 71-77, examines the role of sight and the visible (or the ekphrastic) in this episode.…”

“…93.A much discussed passage: see ( inter al .) Johnson (1976), 99-105; Segal (1981); Clay (1988); Fowler (1991); Lowenstam (1993); Putnam (1998), 23-54; Beck 2007; Farrell (2012), 294-304.…”