COMMENTO AL LIBRO VII DEI POSTHOMERICA DI QUINTO SMIRNEO

This doctoral thesis aims to provide the reader with a commentary on book 7 of Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica. The starting point for this work has consisted in a detailed analysis of the lexicon, to which the most part of Chapter 3 is devoted. This research has allowed to achieve meaningful results, not only on a linguistic level, but also on a thematic and historico-literary one. These are displayed in Chapter 2 and they mainly deal with: 1) the use of language and similes in order to create intra- and intertextual links and contribute to characterization; 2) the position of book 7 within the poem and the relationship in particular with books 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 14; 3) intertextual references to authors prior to Quintus – firstly Homer, in relation to whom the Smyrnean poet operates according to the principle of imitatio cum variatione, but also Hesiod, the Trojan Cycle, the tragics, Apollonius Rhodius, Aratus, Oppian of Anazarbus and maybe also Virgil, Statius, Dictys and Dares; 4) the relationship with an author who was maybe contemporary with Quintus, namely Philostratus the Younger, and with other poets which may have recalled the Posthomerica, specifically Triphiodorus, Nonnus, Christodorus and Tzetzes; 5) the most relevant themes of the poem and of book 7 in particular: the bond between Neoptolemus and Achilles, the importance of parent-child relationships throughout the whole poem, the meaningful role played by Nestor and the stoic (or nearly stoic) morality supported by the poet.