ABSTRACT: This article briefly examines the scholarly tradition which has argued for allusions to the mysteries in Vergil's Aeneid 6. After establishing the textual basis for such readings, it develops earlier suggestions concerning Aeneas' golden bough and makes new arguments for further possible mystical allusions. It then concludes with a fresh analysis of Vergil's somni portae which suggests that the long-standing interpretative difficulties concerning Aeneas' exit can be resolved through comparison to an Orphic poem recalled by Plutarch in his De sera numinis vindicta . Plutarch's dialogue shares significant narrative, eschatological, and topographical elements with Aeneid 6 which have not yet been fully explored.
ABSTRACT: This article examines how Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's engagement with Ovidian intertexts (such as the Tristia and the Metamorphoses ) in Don Quixote informs the novel's underlying themes of displacement, authorship, and censorship. By analyzing a distich in the Prologue and the recurring Pyramus and Thisbe motif throughout the novel, the article examines Cervantes' use of "small" classical citations to shape his "big" book. This study offers a new reading of the misattributed Catonism and shows how Cervantes repurposes Ovidian models of Medea, Thisbe, Philomela, and Procne to reflect on the precarious position of displaced authors, as well as female characters and readers within restricted literary and social environments.
ABSTRACT: This article examines the diachronic construction and reception of Trajan's historiographical image from the second century to the Enlightenment, revealing how the Optimus Princeps became one of history's most enduring imperial archetypes. Using a Reception Theory framework centred on successive "creators" and "audiences," it argues that Trajan's lasting fame derived from three overlapping elements: the strategic polyvalence of his image, the idealism and optimism that shaped its early reception, and the contrastive use of Domitian as an anti-model. The study demonstrates how imperial reputations could be continually negotiated through successive acts of reception that transcend their historical foundations.
ABSTRACT: This article investigates the chronological structure of textbooks used in undergraduate survey courses on Greek archaeology, history, and culture to interrogate pedagogical tensions between standard teaching aides and current calls to expand the geographical, chronological, and thematic boundaries of classics curricula. Through quantitative and qualitative analyses of ten textbooks, the article demonstrates that these tools promote a focus on the fifth century and, implicitly or explicitly, present students with a "Western civilization"-based narrative structure. By engaging with the field of critical textbook studies, the article discusses the potential impacts of eliminating or replacing such standard tools on pedagogical goals.
