Political Meaning of the Dracontius’ ‘Medea’

This article deals with the poem Medea by the Latin poet Dracontius, who lived in the Vandal Africa in the end of the fifth – beginning of the sixth century. Analysis of the terms and characters of this poem in the context of Dracontius’s works in general implies that in this case, as well as in other texts by the Carthaginian poet, the mythological plot became an allegory of the events contemporary to the author and relating to the Romano-Vandal conflict. This political interpretation, in its turn, helps to give a new explanation of the differences between versions of the myth given by Dracontius and by classical authors, Euripides and Seneca.

Keywords

Dracontius, Medea, tragedy, epyllion, Vandals, Roman Africa

Received

19.09.2019

Publication date

24.09.2019

Number of characters

20122

Cite

GOST	Nikolsky I. Political Meaning of the Dracontius’ ‘Medea’ // Vestnik drevnei istorii – 2019. – V. 79. – Issue 2 C. 327-334 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/vdi/s032103910005037-3-1-en (circulation date: 04.10.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S032103910005037-3
MLA	Nikolsky, Ivan "Political Meaning of the Dracontius’ ‘Medea’." Vestnik drevnei istorii 79.2 (2019):327-334. DOI: 10.31857/S032103910005037-3
APA	Nikolsky I. (2019). Political Meaning of the Dracontius’ ‘Medea’. Vestnik drevnei istorii 79(2), pp.327-334 DOI: 10.31857/S032103910005037-3

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