Religion, Antiquarianism and Roman urban development. An approach from Book VIII of the Aeneid

CECILIA AMES

Londres

Conferencia; 15 th Congress of the Federation International d' etudes classiques; 2019

Federation International d' etudes classiques

Book VIII of Aeneid is the only one whose action happens in Rome and is a privileged text for reflection on the spatial conditions of religious communication of different actors in the Roman urban space. The place is visited by Aeneas and Evander, guide and spokesman of etiological explanations about the origin of places, customs and rites. The progression of Aeneas and Evander?s walk is a topographic sequence parallel to the historical sequence of events presented later in another passage of Book VIII, the ekphrasis of Aeneas? shield. Both passages should be read and interpreted as complements because the Virgilian view of history consists of a series of foundations based on the development of Roman urban topography, from meaningful natural geography, in association with chronological accounts of important leaders and their actions. The topographic description also creates and recreates complex places of encounter and communication, showing the strong relationship between religion and urban space.