The ekphrastic History of Rome: complementarity of geographical description and Aeneas’s shield in Book 8 of the Aeneid

DE SANTIS, GUILLERMO-AMES, CECILIA

Ephemeris Dacorromana

Editorial Academei Romane

Lugar: Roma; Año: 2012 vol. XV

1582-1854

Book 8 of the Aeneid offers a broad account of Roman history from the protohistoricorigins of Janus and Saturnus to the battle of Actium. The historical narrative developsover two long descriptive passages: one related to Evander and Aeneas’s walk aroundPallanteum and a second passage that is the description of Vulcan’s shield. The presentauthor´s hypothesis is then framed with the premise that these passages are both ekphrasisthat can be read and interpreted as complements. This approach allows us to understand theVirgilian view of history as a series of foundations based on the development of Romanurban geography, from meaningful natural geography, in association with chronologicalaccounts of important leaders and their actions. Additionally, both passages are wovenaround the theme of order and complementarity: a geographical order and a chronologicalone. Both representations depend on each other to express their full meaning; that is, theconsideration of urban geography as a reservoir of memory and Aeneas’s shield asorganized narrative history.