An Epic Undertaking
Ohio Wesleyan Classics Professor Co-Authors Major New Resource for Virgilian Studies
DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University Professor of Classics Lee M. Fratantuono, Ph.D., has co-authored and edited a major new study of the Roman poet Virgil and his epic poem the “Aeneid.”
The forthcoming book, “Virgil, Aeneid 8: Text, Translation, and Commentary,” is an 800-page volume that includes the first full-scale commentary (with critical Latin text and English translation) on Book 8 of Virgil’s epic of imperial Rome.
Book 8 depicts the Trojan hero Aeneas at the site of the future city of Rome, as well as the forging and bestowal of his magical, divine battle shield. The shield of Aeneas is decorated with famous scenes from Roman history, from the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus to the Battle of Actium between Octavian, Antony, and Cleopatra.
Fratantuono’s forthcoming book, published by Brill, is his second major Virgilian publication co-authored with R. Alden Smith, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Classics at Baylor University in Texas.
The two classicists also collaborated on Brill’s 2015 edition of Book 5 of the “Aeneid” and will be working together on a similar major edition of Book 4 of Virgil’s foundational epic of ancient Rome.
Their new book is dedicated to two senior classics professors who provided mentorship and guidance to the authors, G. Karl Galinsky, Ph.D., of the University of Texas at Austin, and Georg Nicolaus Knauer, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania.
The book is illustrated with images by Ohio Wesleyan 2010 graduate and freelance photographer Katelyn McGarr of Trek Afar Photography.
Learn more about Fratantuono and Ohio Wesleyan’s Classics Program at www.owu.edu/classics.
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