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The Thebaid: Seven Against Thebes
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A classical epic of fratricide and war, the Thebaid retells the legendary conflict between the sons of Oedipus Polynices and Eteocles for control of the city of Thebes. The Latin poet Statius reworks a familiar story from Greek myth, dramatized long before by Aeschylus in his tragedy Seven against Thebes. Statius chose his subject well: the Rome of his day, ruled by the
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Paperback, 432 pages
Published
January 10th 2007
by Johns Hopkins University Press
(first published January 1st 1854)
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This review is slightly more spoilery than usual, because (1) the book is like 2,000 years old and (2) 99% of the people who are going to read it will be familiar with the basic plot anyway.
The Thebaid is a great subject for an epic poem. It was featured in Aeschylus tantalizing tragedy, The Seven Against Thebes., but most readers of the classics will be familiar with the story by way of Sophocles Antigone, arguably the greatest tragedy from all antiquity.* King Oedipus of Thebes leaves his ...more
The Thebaid is a great subject for an epic poem. It was featured in Aeschylus tantalizing tragedy, The Seven Against Thebes., but most readers of the classics will be familiar with the story by way of Sophocles Antigone, arguably the greatest tragedy from all antiquity.* King Oedipus of Thebes leaves his ...more
"Es éste el premio, y la merced es ésta,
por tantas amistades merecida?
Así te pago en guerra tan funesta,
oh suprema esperanza de mi vida?
Tanto mi loca pretensión me cuesta,
corona infame, en vano pretendida,
que en aquesta enemiga tierra mía
muerto estás y yo vivo todavía?"
Una gran alegría haber leído este poema épico también clásico en el cual cumplió mis principales expectativas que eran sobre todo conocer mucho más de este episodio legendario de la invasión tebana dirigida por el rey Adrasto y ...more
por tantas amistades merecida?
Así te pago en guerra tan funesta,
oh suprema esperanza de mi vida?
Tanto mi loca pretensión me cuesta,
corona infame, en vano pretendida,
que en aquesta enemiga tierra mía
muerto estás y yo vivo todavía?"
Una gran alegría haber leído este poema épico también clásico en el cual cumplió mis principales expectativas que eran sobre todo conocer mucho más de este episodio legendario de la invasión tebana dirigida por el rey Adrasto y ...more
This doesnt have the immediate human appeal of the Homeric epics nor any incident to match the drama and pathos of the Carthage section of The Aeneid. Its more like an action movie: two characters, in this case Oedipus sons, the brothers Polyneices and Eteocles, come into conflict at the beginning of the tale and the action builds to their ultimate confrontation at the end. Or almost the end; the final conflict occurs in Book 11, but there is still the 12th book which ties up various loose ends.
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This is the story of the sons of Oedipus. After Oed learns he's been schtupping his mom, he gouges out his eyes and his sons Eteocles and Polynices agree to alternate the rule of Thebes. But Et doesn't want to give up the throne when it's time. So Poly roams around and eventually settes in Argos. But apparently he keeps grumbling about this kingdom that's supposed to be his, so everyone goes to war. Some stories and the warfare descriptions sound like Quentin Tarantino's wet dreams. At one point
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Statius is the Quentin Tarantino of Latin Epic. It's been awhile since I've encountered such a gruesome tale.
As far as I know, this is our only extant epic from The Theban Cycle (as opposed to the more familiar Trojan Cycle, comprised of eight epics or so? The Iliad and The Odyssey are the only ones we have). I'm sure this fact alone would make it of primal significance to classical scholars.
For me The Thebaid's significance lies in the way it serves as a reflection of The Iliad, which of all ...more
As far as I know, this is our only extant epic from The Theban Cycle (as opposed to the more familiar Trojan Cycle, comprised of eight epics or so? The Iliad and The Odyssey are the only ones we have). I'm sure this fact alone would make it of primal significance to classical scholars.
For me The Thebaid's significance lies in the way it serves as a reflection of The Iliad, which of all ...more
I love roman epic, Greek epic, classical tragedy, classical comedy... I just can't bring myself to like Statius. I found him underwhelming and slow, attention seeking and kind of a suck up. I know it is Silver Latin so this shouldn't come as a surprise, but I feel like Statius missed the train that other Roman writers hopped on in the fine line between being obnoxious and being cheeky.
Esta versión por el español Juan de Arjona (1560-1603) se hizo famosa por su calidad y originalidad. Fue redescubierta en el siglo diecinueve:
Nuestro excelente poeta D. Juan de Arjona ha hecho de La Tebaida la mejor versión acaso que hay en castellano de poemas de la antigüedad greco-latina, y bien pudiera decirse que, por excepción, en este caso el traductor ha mejorado el texto original, prestándole las galas de una fluida y vigorosa versificación (Gregorio Morillo, 1888)
Su traducción de La ...more
Nuestro excelente poeta D. Juan de Arjona ha hecho de La Tebaida la mejor versión acaso que hay en castellano de poemas de la antigüedad greco-latina, y bien pudiera decirse que, por excepción, en este caso el traductor ha mejorado el texto original, prestándole las galas de una fluida y vigorosa versificación (Gregorio Morillo, 1888)
Su traducción de La ...more
Virgil pales in comparison to Homer and Statius pales in comparison to Virgil. I really like the (unfortunately) unfinished Achilleid, but didnt enjoy his Thebaid. But. Still glad I jumped in and took a look around.
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合上书仿佛逃离了一个喷吐毒雾的蛇坑但丁选了这么一位向导带他爬山也是心挺大的XD
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Read for my Roman Horror Literature class at University.
3.0 stars
3.0 stars
Oct 13, 2015
Jessica
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people unhappy with subpar translations
Shelves:
for-school
Well, good thing I got a different, cheaper translation from everyone else in class, because I think I got the best end of that deal! This translation is awesome, and it flows very, very nicely. I enjoyed how the plot was set up, too; it doesn't jump straight into the fighting, but it sets up exposition and a bit of character development. It might be a double edged sword with this spoiler ( (view spoiler) ), but I was still somehow happy about it. Overall,
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Interesting book, but I thought the Seven Against Thebes were called the 'Epigoni'?
After reading Sophocles' Oedipus plays, a rich and rewarding experience follows with Statius and The Thebaid.
This is one of my favorite books. It's my all time fav classic.
Incredible epic poem from the Latin Silver age. About as much theomachia as you can put into 12 chapters.
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