| This study investigated the use and importance of topography in the eighth book of the Aeneid of Vergil. The first half of the dissertation concerned itself with the state of our knowledge of the sites and monuments in Rome that the poet recalled. The second half explored the significance of the allusions to place and how place was used to underscore the themes and values of both Book 8 and the Aeneid.;An examination of the text showed that the sites and monuments of Book 8, especially those mentioned in the tour passage (11.306-69), were not a random collection as had been previously assumed. The tour passage is also neither a simplistic evocation of early Rome, commonplace in Augustan literature, nor is it a tour de force of Vergil's learning. Instead, the principal passage under consideration demonstrated its own internal logic that contributes to the unity of the eighth book and expresses further Vergil's view of Roman history. It was also argued that topography complements Vergil's themes of triumph and exile, both of which culminate in Book 8. |
