Introduction. Why Thebes? You tell the events of Thebes,he tells of the Phrygians’ battle-shouts;but I tell of my conquests.No horse has destroyed me,nor foot soldier, nor ships,but another new armystrikes me from its eyes. Anacreontea, fr. 26 [1] When we first started working on this book, just over a decade… Read more
1. Troy, The Next Generation: Politics [1] Homer’s engagement with Thebes comes to the fore as the two opposing forces prepare to do battle for the first time in the Iliad on the plain in front of Troy’s citadel. Agamemnon’s review of his troops (Iliad 4.223–421) continues both the examination of his leadership and the introduction to some of the main Achaean figures. While some… Read more
2. The Labors of Herakles: Time [1] In the last chapter we saw Tydeus, one of the original Seven against Thebes, being held up as a model for his son, Diomedes, to emulate. At key points in Diomedes’ maturation in the epic the name of his father is invoked, first before he proves himself in battle and later when he shows himself a man of… Read more
3. Homer’s Oedipus Complex: Form [1] In the last chapter we saw how Herakles, while rarely mentioned explicitly in the Iliad, nevertheless casts a long shadow over the events of the epic. Haunting Achilles’ every move, Herakles stands as the hero from a bygone age. His singular actions had not only brought Zeus’ order to the world of men, but also had brought about Troy’s… Read more
4. Doubling Down On Strife [1] In the first three chapters of this book, we have avoided attempts to reconstruct lost Theban epics in favor of identifying where Theban material occurs in Homer and exploring the ways in which Homer re-presents that material by putting it at the service of his narratives. In Chapter 1 we examined Homer’s most explicit engagement with Thebes, via a… Read more
5. Theban Palimpsests [1] Strife that gives birth to strife prosmnatai (‘wins over’) reason.Ἔρις ἔριν τίκτουσα προσμνᾶται λόγον. Suda s.v. Eris; Mantissa Proverbiorum 1.60 This proverb on strife, preserved in both the Suda and the Mantissa Proverbiorum, is unusually cryptic for a maxim. The verb προσμνᾶται is not attested anywhere else but clearly relies on a metaphor of wooing; [2]… Read more
Appendix 1B: Historical and Legendary Hostages, continued {246–259} Case Number At Time of Exaction Period of Detention Termination of Hostageship Sex Age Number Affiliation Selection Time Place Treatment 1 F nubile X child of donor X X R Impregnated X 2 X παῖδες X X X X R Threatened Rescued 3 M τέκνα X Aeneas’ grandsons X X R Adopted X 4… Read more
Appendix 1C: Rhetorical References to Hostages {261} Herein are the rhetorical and non-personal references to ὅμηρος and obsides found in the works cited in the bibliography. Sources: “Hostage” Josephus, J.A. 11.303 marriage Diodorus 19.24.2 money Polybius 1.68.3 baggage Plutarch, Moralia 54A sympathy Plutarch, Cato Minor 30.4 marriage Cicero, Pro Caelio 32.78 prosecutions Cicero, Pro Cluentio 66.188 dead sons Cicero, In Catilinam 4.5.9 opinion (sententia) Cicero, In Catilinam 4.2.3 Cicero’s son… Read more
Appendix II.A: The Legend of Cloelia {263–270} The war between the infant Roman Republic and the Etruscan king Lars Porsenna became the setting for three episodes which attracted the fancy of the Roman literary establishment, and surely also that of the undocumented public at large, for generations: Horatius Cocles swimming the Tiber in full arms, Mucius Cordus thrusting his hand into the fire, and the maiden Cloelia escaping from hostageship. Read more
