4. The Living Instrument: Odyssey 13–15 in Performance The actor … must make his own inner being ‘an instrument capable of playing any tune,’ as it is often put. Francis Fergusson, The Idea of a Theater, pp. 252–253 Turning our focus from the Iliad to the Odyssey, it seems plausible that the distinct virtue of the Odyssey in performance… Read more
Conclusion Epic is not simply a stripped-down version of tragedy, some sort of primitive ancestor. Instead, the “half-acting” of epic creates an atopia—a placelessness, an uncanniness—in which the absent and the past take over the present, along multiple paths. The performance dynamic creates separate realms of action—present, past, divine, human, living, dead—on occasion layering these on top of one another. These boundaries, once in place, can be… Read more
Appendix A. Rhapsodes in Vase Painting; Rhapsōidia Vase painting provides evidence for the nature of Homeric performance, though not as much as might be thought, and not in as much abundance as for other musical contests held at the Panathenaia. [1] The earliest depictions of performance on vases of Panathenaic shape pre-date Plato’s Ion by a century and a half, however, and… Read more
Appendix B. The Homeric Performer, the Staff, and “Becoming the Character” The “play” between bard and character, their inner dynamics, variations, attunements, narratological ensembles and assemblies, can be brought to life by looking at a series of objects that threads through both the Iliad and the Odyssey, consisting of scepter, spear, staff, sword, etc. Within the poems, the scepter signifies that the speaker holding it has the… Read more
Bibliography Adkins, Arthur W. H. 1960. Merit and Responsibility: A Study in Greek Values. Oxford. Ahl, Frederick, and Hanna Roisman. 1996. The Odyssey Re-Formed. Ithaca. Aitken, Ellen Bradshaw, and Jennifer K. Berenson Maclean, eds. 2004. Philostratus’s Heroikos: Religion and Cultural Identity in the Third Century C.E. Atlanta. Alden, Maureen. 2000. Homer Beside Himself: Para-narratives… Read more
Acknowledgements This book began as a doctoral dissertation at the University of Missouri-Columbia, under the direction and shepherding of John Miles Foley?, but has since been expanded and rewritten through the encouragement of numerous colleagues. I am particularly appreciative of the support of Gregory Nagy and Leonard Muellner. Casey Dué proved invaluable for her knowledge and insightful suggestions. I have also profited from suggestions for portions of… Read more
1. Introduction 1.1 Characterizing Agamemnon Homer [1] and his audience knew Agamemnon as the primary leader of well over 1,000 Achaian ships that sailed against Troy. [2] He led an intense ten-year struggle, only to return home and die a miserable death at his wife’s hands. His presence in person or name impacts the poetic narratives… Read more
2. Characterization in Homer and Agamemnon’s Appeal in Iliad 4 2.1 Traditional Characterization Our discussion in the last chapter argued that Homeric characterization is tradition-based. Epic characters, at least the major ones, are already known in some detail to Homer and his core audience by distinguishable character traits. The existence of recognizable characterization attached to a particular figure frees the poet from the necessity of pure… Read more
3. The Characterization of Agamemnon in the Odyssey 3.1 Introduction Agamemnon is in Hades by the time the action of the Odyssey opens. This necessitates that his personal appearances be incorporeal and only in the underworld (Odyssey 11 and 24). Agamemnon as a traditional character is with us in greater and lesser ways beyond his apparitions as a specter, however. He appears metonymically, through retrospective narrative… Read more
6. Beyond Thebes “And what about you, Nikêratos—what kind of knowledge do you take pride in?” And he said: “My father, because he wished for me to be a good man, compelled me to memorize all of Homer. And now I can recite the whole Iliad and Odyssey.” Xenophon Symposium III 5 [1] Lykourgos, a Greek from the Peloponnese, is famous for having traveled to… Read more
