Visual iconicity in Latin poetry

This paper aims to assess the role of visual iconicity in Latin poetry. Even though major Latin poems include, indeed, a good deal of verses that succeed in recreating mimetically the subject matter by exploiting the potential of word ordering – a good case in point is Aen. IV 165 speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem, where the word order enables the reader to visualize Dido and Aeneas inside the cave – to date visual iconicity has not attracted very much attention from classical scholars. By singling out the major patterns of visual iconicity in Latin poetry, this paper will make a case for its relevance to literary history. It will reinforce, through textual evidence, the non-arbitrariness of the iconic interpretation applied to classical texts.