Ekphrasis in Latin Epic

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Neil Bernstein (Ohio University)

Ed. by Sophia Papaioannou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Jula Wildberger (The American University of Paris)

Domains

Literature Topic
Poetic/ rhetorical term

Dates

Date of occurrence c.-400- c.400

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Location)

Resources

Recommended Reading

1. Introduction: recent ways of looking at ekphrasis

Lausberg’s standard handbook of literary rhetoric defines ekphrasis as “the detailed description of a person or an object”. The entry cross-references the Latin term evidentia, “the vividly detailed depiction of a broadly conceived whole object through the enumeration of (real or invented) observable details” (Lausberg 1998: §810, §1133). Bartsch and Elsner (2007: i) summarize the multifarious power of this figure with admirable clarity:

[Ekphrasis] has been variously treated as a mirror of the text, a mirror in the text, a mode of specular inversion, a further voice that disrupts or extend the message …

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3756 words

Citation: Bernstein, Neil. "Ekphrasis in Latin Epic". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 July 2020 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19589, accessed 28 April 2024.]

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