Civil War and the Apollonian Model in Valerius’ Argonautica

Abstract

In the fifth and sixth books of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica , Flaccus describes a civil war in Colchis between the Colchian king Aeetes and his brother Perses. Aeetes is warned by the shade of Phrixus that his supremacy in Colchis will end when the Golden Fleece is removed from the land. This civil war narrative is Valerius' most extended deviation from his poem's key model, the Argonautica of Apollonius. This chapter supplements the accounts by arguing that Valerius uses the civil war, and in particular description of its causes, to bring about a reconciliation of the Roman tradition that the Argo is the first ship with the Apollonian version of the story, in which the Argo's place in history is figured quite differently. The civil war narrative thus marks the heightening and refinement, rather than the abatement or suspension, of Valerius' engagement with his Hellenistic predecessor. Keywords: Apollonian model; Argo; civil war; Roman tradition; Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica