5. Nine Years of War Proclus Chrestomathia: καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Ἀχιλλεὺς Ἑλένην ἐπιθυμεῖ θεάσασθαι, καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ Ἀφροδίτη καὶ Θέτις. εἶτα ἀπονοστεῖν ὡρμημένους τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς Ἀχιλλεὺς κατέχει. After this, Achilles desires to see Helen, and Aphrodite and Thetis bring the two together to the same locale. Then, when the Greeks are eager to return home, Achilles checks them. This is a striking and… Read more
6. Fragments of Uncertain Location F24 Plato Plato Euthyphr o 12Α λέγω γὰρ δὴ τὸ ἐναντίον ἢ ὁ ποιητὴς ἐποίησεν ὁ ποιήσας· Ζῆνα δὲ τὸν ἔρξαντα καὶ ὃς τάδε πάντ’ ἐφύτευσενοὐκ ἐθέλεις εἰπεῖν· ἵνα γὰρ δέος ἔνθα καὶ αἰδώς. ἐγὼ οὖν τούτωι διαφέρομαι τῶι ποιητῆι. Σ Τ ad loc. (p. 3 Greene) ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ φόβον… Read more
Appendix 1. The Childhood of Achilles in the Cypria Thetis’ thwarted attempt to burn away the mortal part of Achilles’ body is often attributed to the Cypria, although nothing is said of it in Proclus’ summary and no surviving fragment attests it. Admittedly, the theory does repose on something rather more substantial than thin air. The narrative of Thetis’ attempt to immortalize her son in Apollonius of… Read more
Appendix 2. Alleged Consultations of the Delphic Oracle in the Cypria Attempts have been made to establish two consultations of the Delphic Oracle by Agamemnon within our poem. The first bases itself upon a passage within Lycophron’s Alexandra, where that maddening poet is alluding to the sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis, the omen of the snake and the sparrows at the same place, and the embarkation… Read more
Appendix 3. The Suitors of Helen and the Cypria On the general issues of catalogues of Helen’s suitors in Greek literature and early poetry’s knowledge of the tradition of the oath sworn by these worthies, see Davies and Finglass on Stesichorus fr. 87. Our particular concern here is with the question of whether the Cypria exploited the device of the oath and produced a catalogue of the… Read more
Appendix 4. Testimonia T1 Aelian Aelian Var. Hist. 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 for her… Read more
Bibliography of Frequently Cited Works Bethe, Erich. 1929. Homer: Dichtung und Sage, 2: Odyssee. Kyklos. Zeitbestimmung nebst den resten des troischen Kyklos. Leipzig. Diels, H. 1921. Der antike Pessimismus. Berlin. Dihle, Albrecht. 1970. Homer-Probleme. Cologne. Griffin, Jasper. 1977. “The Epic Cycle and the Uniqueness of Homer.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 97:39–53. [= Oxford Readings… Read more
Preface This book is dedicated to my friend and collaborator in all things, MARY EBBOTT σύν τε δύ᾽ ἐρχομένω καί τε πρὸ ὃ τοῦ ἐνόησεν ὅππως κέρδος ἔῃ The occasion of the writing of this book is the completion of the Homer Multitext project’s digital edition of the Venetus A manuscript of the Iliad (http://www.homermultitext.org), the culmination of eighteen years of… Read more
Introduction How many ways are there to tell the story of Troy? A passage from Iliad 20 makes me wonder just how flexible the Homeric tradition might be. At the beginning of book 20, Zeus calls the gods to an assembly. He tells them that they may now join the battle taking place before the walls of Troy on whichever side they wish, something that he had… Read more
1. Flowers, Subjectivity, and the Gaze: The Erotic Imagery of Greek Lyric The imagery of archaic Greek lyric offers our most promising comparandum for Homeric treatments of flowers and erotic bodies; accordingly, I would like to consider relevant images from the lyric corpus before turning to the Homeric images that will form the focus of my study. [1] The bodies decked with… Read more
