Dr. Sarah McCallum, Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Arizona.
Monday, November 9, 2026, 3:00-4:00 pm, Koffler Great Room at ASA and Zoom
Many people are familiar with Vergil’s famous poem the Aeneid, which recounts the tale of Aeneas, a Trojan prince who escapes his conquered city and eventually becomes the legendary ancestor of the Roman people. The length, subject matter and meter of this work make it an epic poem. Yet, the average reader remains unaware of how Vergil innovatively weaves elements from almost every other ancient genre into it. Elegy, an amatory and funerary mode of poetic expression, provides Vergil with striking artistic material for articulating three pivotal themes that animate the Aeneid: desire (amor); war (arma); and death (mors). By focusing on the figure of Lavinia, the Italian princess who must marry Aeneas, Dr. McCallum demonstrates how elegiac material characterizes desire (amor) as a force of destruction with violent and fatal consequences.