Medusa’s echo. Medusamotieven in Statius’ Thebaïs

This article seeks to underline the importance of the image of Medusa in Statius’ Thebaid. The Gorgon is explicitly introduced in an ekphrasis of a sacred goblet in the program- matic first book. This ekphrasis seems to function as a narrating mechanism that enables the reader to activate Medusa’s presence, which may then remain lingering throughout the entire epic poem. Stimulated by echoes of words and scenes, that evoke the ekphrasis, the reader gradually creates his own fictional network in which the Gorgon continuously appears. Her (implicit) presence is illustrated in the passage that describes the marriage of Adrastus’ daughters to Polynices and Tydeus in the second book, and in the tragic pas- sage in the fifth book in which Opheltes prematurely dies