Postlude

Abstract

Abstract In the Postlude, I summarize the main findings of the ‘darker’ reading of the Achilleid, showing how a transformative interpretation of this densely packed poem is indeed possible. The Postlude, in ring composition with the Introduction (Chapter 1), argues that Statius reifies Achilles, and the poet is persistently in dialogue with his epic and tragic literary predecessors, and he is prepared to engage—however embryonically—with more serious genres. I also propose some concluding speculations on what the poem can be seen to represent in light of the tradition that precedes it. The Achilleid thus emerges as a text with much darker overtones—a poem that displays the constant struggle between remembrance and suppression, and that can indeed walk the fine line between epic and tragedy.