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The suicide narratives of Silius Italicus
Abstract
In this dissertation, I examine the theme of suicide in Silius Italicus’ Punica through the following case studies: Saguntum (Punica 2), Capua (Punica 11, 13), Hannibal (Punica 2, 13, 17), Scipio (Punica 4), and Solimus (Punica 9). I analyse recurrent literary features and motifs –civil war, human/object/divine agency, bodily disfigurement, elemental imagery in loci horridi, exile, haunting memory, fides, and pietas– and their connections to Silius’ suicide ideology. I use frameworks provided by Narrative Exposure Therapy to connect these features with textual allusions to Silius’ contemporary Rome and other Latin epics. I observe that Silius portrays suicide as a powerful weapon and instrument for moral action, a form of internal civil war, a form of escape and exile, and a transformative boundary threshold. I conclude that Silius presents an epic ideology of suicide that enabled readers to contemplate the emotional experiences of suicide, and the effects of suicide on one’s physical/cultural identity and environment. These reveal a duality of Silian suicides as desperate acts amid uncontrollable and impossible situations, and as means of reclaiming personal power and control of one’s fateSimilar works
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Last time updated on 14/04/2025
This paper was published in Glasgow Theses Service.
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