Dr. Drew Mannetter lectures on Virgil's "Aeneid"

Drew Mannetter, assistant professor of classics and philosophy at St. Scholastica, will give a talk entitled "Virgil's Utilization of the Eastern Topos" at 3:40 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11, in room 4119 of Tower Hall on The College of St. Scholastica campus. The public is welcome to this free event; refreshments will be served.

"Virgil's ‘Aeneid' has been traditionally read as a poem of overt praise of Rome and the emperor Augustus heavily modeled on the Homeric epics," writes Mannetter. "I will contend that instead of being a poem of simple praise, it provides an explanation of the dual nature of the Roman Empire and Augustus as both great and cruel."

In the golden age of Latin literature, said Mannetter, the "topos" - or theme - of eastern decadence is heavily present in nearly every author. Virgil taps into this "topos" to explain the origins of the decadence of Rome.

The talk is part of a faculty colloquium series developed in 2007 by the College's School of Arts and Letters to highlight diverse faculty research projects. The presentation will last one hour and include a 40-minute lecture followed by 20 minutes of questions and answers.

For more information contact Nathan Carroll at (218) 723-6144 or ncarroll@css.edu.