Tum canit hesperidum miratam mala puellam: The Hesperides and Hesperia in Virgil and Ovid

The image of Hesperia and the Hesperides, western lands endowed with mythological mystery and geographical wonder, is of great significance to the Virgilian epic depiction of the westward journey of Aeneas and his Trojans, as well as to Ovid in his own epic reflection on the world and the place of Rome therein. Close consideration of the passages in both the Aeneid and the Metamorphoses that reference Hesperia and the Hesperides will reveal a careful Ovidian reading of his Virgilian source material, as well as a commentary on the nature of the fall of Troy.