Transactions of the American Philological Association

This paper examines Statius' depiction of landscape in comparison with Ovid's. Three landscapes that illustrate Statius' important and complex debt to Ovid are discussed: the sacred grove of Diana (Book 4), the Nemean grove (Books 4-6), and the river landscape of the Ismenos (Book 9). The analysis concludes that the landscapes of the Thebaid are disconnected from the gods and provide a vivid canvas on which Statius displays the spreading evil of a civil war that burst beyond the bounds of the warring parties. Humans are held accountable for the destruction of the state as much as for the loss of a paradise described in Ovidian terms as a locus amoenus.