Nikoletta Manioti

My research focuses on familial relationships between women of myth and legend, as they are depicted in Latin epic of the Augustan and Early Imperial Era. During my readings I was intrigued to discover an unusual interest in women's feelings for and behaviour towards their family members of the same sex. Through an investigation of influences of attitudes towards Roman women contemporary to the Roman epic poets, as well as by means of a comparative study of women's bonds in Greek and Latin epic, I wish to stress the particularity of Latin epic portraits of mothers, daughters and sisters with origins mainly in Greek myth, and especially Virgil and Ovid's contribution to their Romanization.