To my teachers, who taught me the pleasures and privileges as well as the methods and responsibilities of scholarship. Acknowledgements It is a great pleasure to acknowledge the assistance of many people who shaped this book during its maturation, and who encouraged me during my work on it in less obvious ways. Homeric Conversation began as a doctoral dissertation, and my first and deepest thanks go… Read more
Introduction [In this on-line version, the page-numbers of the printed version are indicated within braces (“{” and “}”). For example, “{69|70}” indicates where p. 69 of the printed version ends and p. 70 begins. These indications will be useful to readers who need to look up references made elsewhere to the printed version of this book.] “And what is the use of a book,”… Read more
Chapter 27. Transformations of Myth: The Poet, Society, and the Sacred This survey ends with Rome, since in Rome we have entered history, for the most part. All of our Roman poets are certainly historical. Much of the Greek material, on the other hand, is clearly legendary or mythical. [1] Greece and Rome allow us to see a number of stages in… Read more
Epilogue The process leading from “myth” to “history”—though such terms cannot be strictly distinguished at all times, as history can function on a sacral level, and myth is always perceived by believers as history—can be seen as a process of secularization. The poet is an omniscient god; then a superhuman hero tied closely, in both a positive and negative way, to the same god; [1]… Read more
Appendix A: Poetry, Aggression, Ritual Walter Burkert has pioneered an analysis of ancient Greek ritual that sees its roots in aggression, in biological impulses than can be observed in animals—Konrad Lorenz was especially fascinated by geese. [1] In the survey of poets in previous chapters, themes and poetic phenomena that related to ritualized aggression have formed a background for archaic poetry (in… Read more
Appendix B: Aggression and the Defensive Topos; Archilochus, Callimachus, Horace Thus far, I have focused on the lives of the poets, with only occasional supportive reference to the poet’s poetry. The subject of this chapter will be a theme that has been considered in passing, aggression and the defensive stance as an apologetic for satirical attack, [1] as it is reflected in… Read more
Appendix C: Themes Pharmakos themes 1. Ritual pollution. 1a. Crime of hero. Pharmakos. Aesop (imputed). Archilochus (imputed). Hesiod (imputed or actual). Socrates (imputed). 1a1. Criminal impiety. Aesop. Socrates (imputed) 1a1a. Theft of sacred things. Pharmakos. Aesop (imputed). 1a1b. Parricide. Oedipus. 1a1c. Incest. Oedipus. 1b. Crime against hero. Androgeus, Aesop. Archilochus. Hesiod. Socrates. Homer. 1b1. Inhospitality. Androgeus. Aesop. Hesiod. Homer. Read more
Bibliography Adams, J. 1982. The Latin Sexual Vocabulary. London. Adrados, F. R. 1975. Festival, Comedy, and Tragedy. Leiden. ———. 1979. “The ‘Life of Aesop’ and the Origins of the Novel in Antiquity.” Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, n.s. 1:93–112. Adrados, F., ed. 1984. La Fable. Entretiens Fondation Hardt XXX. Vandoeuvres-Genève. … Read more
To the memory of my father Andreas Roilos (1928–1999) For my mother Ioanna Roilou Preface Systematic work on this book started in 1996; it was completed in early 2003 and since then only minor, mainly bibliographical and editorial, revisions have been made. I have profited from discussions with a considerable number of colleagues, students, and friends, who contributed valuable help and suggestions at various stages… Read more
Chapter 1. Toward a Poetics of Amphoteroglōssia The very small children in patched clothing,Being smitten with an unusual wisdom,Stopped in their play as she passed themAnd cried out from their cobbles: Guarda! Ahi, guarda! ch’ è be’a [*] But three years after thisI heard the young Dante, whose last name I do not know—… Read more
