The dawn of Achilles. Light imagery in the Iliad and Statius’ Achilleid

Kozák, Dániel (2007) The dawn of Achilles. Light imagery in the Iliad and Statius’ Achilleid. Acta Antiqua, 47 (4). pp. 369-385. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

All three descriptions of dawn in Statius’ Achilleid (1. 242–5; 1. 819–20; 2. 1–4) are tightly connected to the “metamorphoses” of Achilles in the poem. These passages also recall the dawn opening Iliad 19, and the Homeric system of metaphors and symbols comparing the hero’s return to battle to the arrival of light and dawn. A particularly complex connection between Achilles’ exposure and the sunrise is established in the third Statian passage under discussion, which can also be interpreted as a possible prediction of Achilles’ future as an epic and elegiac hero. The genitor coruscae lucis mentioned in this passage can be identified as Iuppiter/Diespiter; as a consequence, the description sheds some light on the god’s role in the Achilleid as well.

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