Mito, poesia, potere. Gigantomachie in Claudiano

References to the Gigantomachy – the primordial clash in which the Olympian gods led by Jupiter repress the attempt to subvert their power – emerge frequently in the works of Claudian. Claudian interprets this myth in a symbolic sense, activating its ideological and political implications. He further lends it metaliterary overtones associated with the panegyrical context but also reflecting, more generally, on the relationship between poetry and power. His technique of storytelling, often of the ecphrastic type, highlighting plastic and graphic elements and singling out impressive features, appears to be inspired by Ovid’s poetics of visuality and spectacularity.