The Negotiation of Provincial Identity through Literature. Apuleius and Vergil

The paper discusses three passages where an intertextual approach to the Metamorphoses can offer some food for thought on Apuleius’ ties to Africa: (a) the phrase immutatio uocis in the prologue, which might hint at Africa through a Vergilian intertext; (b) the description of Hypata in the novel, which seems reminiscent of the way Apuleius describes Carthage; (c) the “eternal” friendship between Juno and Venus mentioned at 6.4.5, pointedly erasing the traditional epic hostility between the two goddesses. This feigned literary amnesia seals the peaceful coexistence of Carthage and Rome in the prosperous second century ce.