The Epic Journey in Greek and Roman Literature explores journeys across time and space in Greek and Latin literature, taking as its starting point the paradigm of travel offered by the epic genre.
The epic journey is central to the dynamics of classical literature, offering a powerful lens through which characters, authors and readers experience their real and imaginary worlds. The journey informs questions of identity formation, narrative development, historical emplotment and constructions of heroism—topics that move through and beyond the story itself.
The book examines the epic journey across multiple literary genres and time periods, integrates and analyzes conceptions of the “journey” as literal and literary structure and explores the journey as an intellectual process intrinsic to identity formation, ideology and cultural translation.
It is edited by Thomas Biggs, assistant professor of classics in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and Jessica Blum, assistant professor of classical studies at the University of San Francisco.
