Ann Hurley

PhD research: Ann Hurley

The Anonymous Excidium Troiae: Its importance as a didactic question-and-answer text and its reception and intertextuality in later vernacular literature

This project examines the Excidium Troiae, an anonymous text, dated to the 6th century, which details the story of the battle of Troy up to the introduction of the wooden horse and the destruction of the city. It then follows the escape of Aeneas from Troy, his travels and eventual landing near Rome and the founding of the city of Rome. It is an educational question-and-answer text which is significant for its mythological content as well as for the insight it gives into medieval education. It is also important because of its reception in later vernacular literature. The Troy narrative has been of fundamental importance in the national and cultural identification of so many Western European Nations as is clearly evidenced by its pivotal place among their pseudo-histories and foundation myths.

E-mail: a.hurley1@universityofgalway.ie
Supervisor: Prof. Michael Clarke
Funding: Galway Doctoral Research Scholarship (2015–2016), Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship (2016–2019)

Research area: the Latin tradition