What is Dead May Never Die: Sicilian Regeneration in Claudian's De Raptu Proserpinae

Abstract

Abstract:In the De Raptu Proserpinae, Claudian refocuses the natural cycles of regeneration that color the myth of Proserpina and Ceres by placing a significant emphasis on the landscape in which his poem's events unfold: the island of Sicily. This paper argues that the focus on Sicilian landscape in the DRP makes manifest the central concerns of the poem, allowing Claudian to rearticulate the cyclical focus of his epic. Through an examination of the progression of DRP's three extended Sicilian ekphrases, we can see how Sicily, and, specifically, the volcanic Mt. Etna as its figurative center, embodies the paradoxical cycle of destruction and renewal.