The poet's father (whose name is unknown) was a native of Velia but later moved to Naples and spent time in Rome where he taught with marked success.

For the Alban Festival, Statius composed a poem on the German and Dacian campaigns of Domitian - which Juvenal lampoons in his seventh satire.

Statius produced the first three books of occasional poetry, his Silvae, which were published in 93, and which sketch his patrons and acquaintances of this period and mention his attendance at one of Domitian's Saturnalia banquets.

There survives a poem he addressed on this occasion to his wife, Claudia (the widow of a famous singer) who had a musically talented daughter by her first husband, (Silv.

During this period at Naples, Statius maintained his relations with the court and his patrons, earning himself another invitation to a palace banquet (Silv.

Taught by his educated father, Statius was familiar with the breadth of classical literature and displayed his learning in his poetry which is densely allusive and has been described as elaborate and mannerist.

He was able to compose in hexameter, hendecasyllable, Alcaic, and Sapphic meters, to produce deeply researched and highly refined epic and polished impromptu pieces, and to treat a variety of themes with the dazzling rhetorical and poetic skill that inspired the support of his patrons and the emperor.

The poem opens (Book 1) with the disgraced Oedipus' curse on his two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, who have decided to hold the throne of Thebes in alternate years, one ruling, the other in exile.

Tydeus slaughters the Thebans and escapes to Argos, causing Adrastus and Polyneices to declare war on Thebes (Book 3).

In the fourth book the Argive forces gather, commanded by the seven champions Adrastus, Polyneices, Amphiaraus, Capaneus, Parthenopaeus, Hippomedon, and Tydeus, and march to Thebes, but at Nemea, Bacchus causes a drought.

In 8, Tydeus, wounded and dying, kills Melanippus and eats his head; a battle over his body leads to the death of Hippomedon and Parthenopaeus (Book 9).

In 10, Juno causes sleep to overcome the Thebans and the Argives slaughter many in the camp; Menoeceus sacrifices himself to save Thebes and Jupiter kills the wicked Capaneus with a thunderbolt.

In the final book, the Argive widows go to Athens to ask Theseus to force Creon to allow their husbands' burial while Argia, Polyneices's wife, burns him illicitly.

The Thebaid ends with an epilogue in which the poet prays that his poem will be successful, cautions it not to rival the Aeneid, and hopes that his fame will outlive him.

[8] Statius' use of allegory in the Thebaid and his abstract treatment of the gods has been seen as an important innovation in the tradition of classical poetry which ushered in Medieval conventions.

[12] The title of the collection (silvae meaning "forest" or "raw material") was used to describe the draft of a poet's work which was composed impromptu in a moment of strong inspiration and which was then revised into a polished, metrical poem.

As with the Thebaid, Statius's relationship to Domitian and his court caused him to fall out of favor with critics and readers, but in recent times, the Silvae have been rehabilitated by scholars.

The content of the Silvae is primarily dictated by the needs of Statius's patrons, and many of the addressees come from the wealthy, privileged class of landowners and politicians.

[15] Statius's flattery of these elites has been interpreted in two ways by scholars; some maintain that the collection is highly subversive and is a subtle criticism of Domitian and the Roman aristocracy.

In the first book, Thetis, having foreknowledge of her son's death in the Trojan War, attempts to hide Achilles on the island of Scyros by dressing him up as a girl.

In general, scholars have remarked on the markedly different tone of the Achilleid in comparison with the Thebaid, equating it more to the style of Ovid than Virgil.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the Thebaid remained a popular text, inspiring a 12th-century French romance as well as works by Boccaccio and Chaucer.

[24] Dante mentions Statius in De vulgari eloquentia along with Ovid, Virgil and Lucan as one of the four regulati poetae (ii, vi, 7).

Statius's redemption is heard in Purgatorio 20, when the mountain of Purgatory trembles and the penitent souls cry out the hymn "Gloria in excelsis Deo".

22.90) as he lived at a time where Christians were persecuted, which resulted him spending four centuries in the fourth terrace of Purgatory, where the vice of sloth is cleansed.

Argia, who was a character in Statius' Thebaid and wife of Polynices, is referred to in the line "of your people" (de le genti tue) in Purg.

Capaneus, who is at the center of the Thebaid's tragic theme, is placed in the third ring of the seventh circle of Dis, where those who committed sins of violence against the God are condemned.

However, Statius' Capaneus is represented as a heroic character, whereas in the Comedy his only attributes are physical strength and a failure to accept God's divine power.