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Chapter 12. Mythical Foundations of Greek Society and the Concept of the City-State, pp. 276–293

Chapter 12. Mythical Foundations of Greek Society and the Concept of the City-State The kinship terminology of the various Indo-European languages, as outlined in Emile Benveniste’s Le vocabulaire des institutions indo-européennes (1969), shows clearly that the basis of Indo-European social organization was the tribe. [1] For the word “tribe,” I find the working definition of Montgomery Watt, in his study… Read more

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Chapter 13. Unattainable Wishes: The Restricted Range of an Idiom in Epic Diction, pp. 294–301

Chapter 13. Unattainable Wishes: The Restricted Range of an Idiom in Epic Diction εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼν ὣςεἴην ἀθάνατος καὶ ἀγήρως ἤματα πάντα τιοίμην δ’ ὡς τίετ’ Ἀθηναίη καὶ Ἀπόλλων,ὡς νῦν ἡμέρη ἥδε κακὸν φέρει Ἀργείοισι Iliad VIII 538-541 If only I wereimmortal and unaging for all days to come,and if only I were honored just… Read more

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Bibliography, pp. 303–327

Bibliography Alexiou, M. 1974. The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition. Cambridge. Alföldi, A. 1974. Die Struktur des voretruskischen Römerstaates. Heidelberg. Allen, T. W., ed. 1912. Homeri Operas (Hymns, Cycle, fragments, etc.). Oxford. ———. 1924. Homer: The Origins and the Transmission. Oxford. Allen, W. S. 1973. Accent and Rhythm. Prosodic Features… Read more

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Foreword

Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches Foreword Gregory Nagy, General Editor [vii] Building on the foundations of scholarship within the disciplines of philology, philosophy, history, and archaeology, this series concerns not just the archaic and classical periods of Greek traditions but the whole continuum—along with all the discontinuities—from the second millennium BCE to the present. The aim is to enhance perspectives by applying various disciplines to problems… Read more

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Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments [ix] I wish to thank the following people, who have inspired, aided, and encouraged me in this work: Leonard Muellner, who first suggested that I think about Briseis; Mary Ebbott, Gloria Ferrari, and Albert Henrichs, each of whom read several drafts and greatly improved the book with their precision and clarity of thought; and Gregory Nagy, whose influence and vision will, I trust, be obvious in… Read more

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Abbreviations

Abbreviations Addenda = Carpenter, T. H., T. Mannack, and M. Mendonca. Beazley Addenda: Additional References to ABV, ARV2 and Paralipomena. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989 AJA = American Journal of Archaeology ARV2 = Beazley, J. D. Attic Red-figure Vase-painters. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963. AthMitt = Mitteilungen des deutschen Archaologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung CJ = Classical Journal CP = Classical… Read more

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Introduction. Variations on Briseis

Introduction: Variations on Briseis [1]In his 1960 book The Singer of Tales, Albert Lord argues that Homeric poetry is defined by its traditionality: any given audience on any given occasion of performance knew the story and the characters already. There would have been nothing about the story, the language, the rhythm of the song, or the characters that was new. The poet of any given performance might… Read more

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Chapter 1. Briseis and the Multiformity of the Iliad

Chapter 1. Briseis and the Multiformity of the Iliad [21] In an oral traditional song culture such as that in which the Iliad and Odyssey were composed, each new performance is a new composition. In such a system, as Albert Lord demonstrated, there can technically be no original from which all others are copies. [1] In fact it is misleading to think of versions… Read more

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Chapter 2. Prize

Chapter 2. Prize [37] The Iliad, as its first word makes clear, is about wrath. This wrath is no ordinary wrath, but mênis, a cosmic wrath that causes human loss and suffering. [1] Achilles’ mênis causes the deaths of countless Achaeans, and fuels the killing spree that results in the deaths of countless Trojans, most notably Hektor’s. The cause of Achilles’ mênis is the taking of Briseis by Agamemnon… Read more