Ad templum Apollinis adueniens ad inferas discendit: the Vergilian underworld in the Expositio of Fulgentius the Mythographer

Abstract

In the sixth century CE, Fulgentius the Mythographer composed his Expositio virgilianae continentiae (Explanation of the Content of the Aeneid) with the apparent aim of Christianizing Virgil’s poetry through allegorical interpretation. Fulgentius’ reading consists in reinterpreting the episodes of the Aeneid as stages in human life, in which Aeneas matures and becomes the Christian hero he is meant to be through the control of the passions. However, this initial Christianizing objective may be seen as subverted if we accept the parodic readings of the work, which would instead point to a questioning—or even an attack—on this type of exegetical strategy deployed in Late Antiquity to appropriate the classical heritage. As with other commentators on Virgil, Aeneas’ descent to the inferi is of particular interest to Fulgentius in his reading, as a key moment in the process of constructing the hero. Within this framework, the present paper will examine Fulgentius’ commentary on Book VI of the Aeneid in order to trace the interpretive strategies he employs, the conception of the underworld that emerges from his dialogue with Virgil and his poetry, and the purpose behind Fulgentius’ construction of this realm.