The Thetis Jupiter Rejected: Hesiodic Closure of Dethronements in a Valerian Ekphrasis (Arg. I, 130-139)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25145/j.fortunat.2025.41.01

Keywords:

Argonautica, Flavian epic, Latin epic, myth, Valerius Flaccus

Abstract

The cycle of alternations due to the dethronement of a previous deity who ruled the cosmos was stopped with the advent of Zeus/Jupiter thanks to his refusal to father offspring with the Nereid Thetis. Because of it, no one else would dispute the throne of heaven with him. In one of the paintings that adorn the ship of the Argonauts in Valerius Flaccus, the wedding of Thetis and Peleus is briefly described; this decoration has had two predominant interpretations: the conquest of the ocean and the anticipation of the marriage between Medea and Jason. However, in this paper a third interpretation is proposed: the closure of this cycle of divine dethronements. To achieve this aim, it is necessary to resort to Hesiod’s theogonic account, in which these alternations are narrated, and consider whether the ekphrasis in question communicates the definitive and indisputable supremacy of the ruling god.

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Author Biography

  • Juan Manuel Arriaga Benítez, Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas

    PhD in Classics by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); Founding partner since 2014 of the Ibero-American Rhetoric Organization (OIR). Professor at the Technological School of Superior Studies at Valle de Bravo (TESVB) from 2011 to 2015 and at the College of Scientific and Technological Studies of the State of Mexico (CECYTEM) from 2016 to 2021. Currently assigned as a Full-Time Researcher at the Center for Classical Studies of the Philological Research Institute of the UNAM with its project titled “Translation and introductory analysis of Valerius Flaccus´ Argonautica (books I-IV): rhetoric, intertextuality and subtext.” He has published research on narratology, including “The ars poetria in cinema: repercussions of Geoffrey of Vinsauf's amplification theory in audiovisual narrative” (2020) and “Narrative patterns. Structural formulas and their emotional responses in film and television” (2022).

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Portada nº 41

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Published

2025-05-30

Issue

No. 41 (2025)

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Artículos

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How to Cite

Arriaga Benítez, Juan Manuel. 2025. “The Thetis Jupiter Rejected: Hesiodic Closure of Dethronements in a Valerian Ekphrasis (Arg. I, 130-139)”. Fortunatae, no. 41 (May): 9-25. https://doi.org/10.25145/j.fortunat.2025.41.01.