Nero in the Thebaid

This chapter considers two interconnected phenomena. The first concerns Domitian’s relationship with the elite, its gradual deterioration, and the consequences for both the historiography on this emperor and readings of Statius’ Thebaid. The second pertains to two different aspects of the influence of Neronian culture on Flavian Rome: (a) the reception of panegyric modes and constructions of kingship from the time of Nero, and (b) Domitian’s ambiguous relationship with Nero’s fashioning of his own imperial persona. In addition, this chapter considers the effects of Domitian’s condemnation by the following imperial dynasty over approaches to Statius’ text and its handling of political allusion. This chapter analyzes a key scene from book 3 of the Thebaid (Maeon’s suicide) and provides a new reading of the political implications of Statius’ reception of Seneca’s Oedipus.