Preface to the English Edition Hélène Monsacré When I wrote this book on Homer, thirty years ago, [1] I tried to grasp the ambiguities of a heroic character: brave, courageous, and yet sensitive. The greatest hero of all time, Achilles, has supernatural powers and fights with divine weapons, but he cries like a human. His tears do not, however, diminish… Read more
Introduction “Since when is it that men (and not women) no longer cry? Why was ‘sensibility,’ at a certain moment, transformed into ‘sentimentality’?” [1] Initially this line of questioning from Roland Barthes referred to the romantic hero. But we can go further still: on the threshold of history and Western literature, an immense poem, the Iliad, recounts both… Read more
I.1. Proper Relations to Aphrodite: A Criterion in the Definition of Heroic Conduct It might seem paradoxical to approach the question of heroism in the Iliad by way of Aphrodite, thus giving sustained attention to episodes where the majority of the action occurs within the walls of Troy. Yet it is also a way to examine fundamental values of the Homeric universe. By initially abandoning the battlefields… Read more
I.2. Physical Evidence of the Hero To specify certain masculine values, I will endeavor in this chapter to provide an account of the bodily information that the poet provides about his heroes. This examination will not be a question of prescribing “Homeric medicine,” but of the image of the warrior’s body as it is represented in the Iliad. This approach is somewhat complex; in fact, to speak… Read more
Preface This is the third installment in my series of commentaries (which began with The Theban Epics [2015] and continued with The Aethiopis [2016]) on the fragments of the Epic Cycle. There is now, of course, an excellent introduction to the whole topic in the form of the late Martin West’s The Epic Cycle (Oxford 2013), which displays his genius at full stretch, especially his inerring ability… Read more
Abbreviations of Frequently Cited Works ABV = J. D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford 1956) ARV2 = J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, 2nd ed. (Oxford 1963) BKT 5.1 = Berliner Klassikertexte 5: Griechische Dichterfragmente: Teil 1, Epische und elegische Fragmente, ed. W. Schubert and U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (Berlin 1907) Davies, Aethiopis = M. Davies,… Read more
Introduction: Background Authorship T1 Aelian Aelian Varia historia 9.15 (p. 106 Dilts) λέγεται δἑ κἀκεῖνο πρὸς τούτοις, ὅτι ἄρα ἀπορῶν (scil. Ὅμηρος) ἐκδοῦναι τὴν θυγατέρα ἔδωκεν ἀυτῆι προῖκα ἔχειν τὰ ἔπη τὰ Κύπρια. καὶ ὁμολογεῖ τoῦτο Πίνδαρος (fr. 265 Sn.). The further point is made that Homer, being at a loss as to how to give his daughter away in marriage, gave as dowry… Read more
1. The Origins of the Trojan War From Zeus’ Plan to Eris’ Intervention F1 Scholion on Iliad I 5 Σ Α Iliad I 5 (1.45 sq. van Thiel) Διὸς δ’ ἐτελείετο βουλή· Διὸς βουλὴν οἱ μὲν τὴν εἱμαρμένην ἀπέδοσαν … ἄλλοι δὲ ἀπὸ ἱστορίας τινὸς εἶπον εἰρηκέναι τὸν Ὅμηρον· φασὶ γὰρ τὴν Γῆν βαρουμένην ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων πολυπληθίας, μηδεμιᾶς ἀνθρώπων οὔσης εὐσεβείας, αἰτῆσαι τὸν Δία κουφισθῆναι… Read more
2. The Assembling of the Expedition Proclus Chrestomathia: καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Ἴρις ἀναγγέλλει τῶι Μενελάωι τὰ γεγονότα κατὰ τὸν οἶκον, ὁ δὲ παραγενόμεvoς περὶ τῆς ἐπ’ Ἴλιον στρατείας βουλεύεται μετὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ … And after this, Iris reports to Menelaus what has happened in his house, and he arrives at his brother Agamemnon’s home and consults with him regarding the planned expedition against Troy. Iris regularly… Read more
3. Two Retardations: Telephus and Teuthrania; Iphigenia at Aulis As the climactic sack of Troy will be delayed by various narrative strategies—the fetching to Troy of Neoptolemus, and of Philoctetes with the bow and arrows that once belonged to Heracles, the stealing of the palladium—so before the Trojan War proper could start, similar postponements were in operation. The device of narrative retardation has its roots in folktale… Read more
