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Appendix

Apendix. Primary Sources for the Sophists It would be difficult to regard the story of the tripod as legend, since it seems to have been invented simply as an illustration of a type of wisdom. Still, it remains a legend because of the recognizable persistence of certain traditional ideas or images, and because of the mythological basis it retains (more or less faithfully, depending on the authors). Without such… Read more

Bibliography

Bibliography Adcock, F. E. 1927. “Literary Tradition and Early Greek Code-Makers.” Cambridge Historical Journal 2:95–109. Adkins, A. W. H. 1973. “ἀρετή, τέχνη, Democracy and Sophists: Protagoras 316b–328d.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 93:3–12. Anderson, W. D. 1966. Ethos and Education in Greek Music. Cambridge, MA. Andrewes, A. 1938. “Eunomia.” Classical Quarterly 32:89–102. … Read more

Proöimion, Timothy Pepper

Proöimion Timothy Pepper Not unlike ancient Greek hymns, Α Californian Hymn to Homer begins with the origins of its subject: the contributors to this volume first came together for a seminar given by Gregory Nagy during his Sather Professorship at the University of California at Berkeley in the spring of 2002. The essays here grew from our collaboration in that seminar, our discussions of Nagy’s Sather… Read more

1. Signs, Omens, and Semiological Regimes in Early Islamic Texts, David Larsen

1. Signs, Omens, and Semiological Regimes in Early Islamic Texts David Larsen In his 1983 article “Sêma and Nóēsis: The Hero’s Tomb and the ‘Reading’ of Symbols in Homer and Hesiod,” Gregory Nagy describes one of the channels through which communication between gods and mortals takes place in the Homeric poems: For example, there is the sêma sent by Zeus to the Achaeans, as reported… Read more

2. Theoclymenus and the Poetics of Disbelief: Prophecy and Its Audience in the Odyssey, Jack Mitchell

2. Theoclymenus and the Poetics of Disbelief: Prophecy and Its Audience in the Odyssey Jack Mitchell In this essay I will reconsider the role of Theoclymenus, soothsayer (mantis) of the Odyssey, in the light of current ideas about performance in Homer. I hope to retrieve Theoclymenus from relative obscurity by showing that he functions, at the heart of the Odyssey and especially at a crucial juncture,… Read more

3. The Places of Song in Aristophanes’ Birds, Dan Sofaer

The Places of Song in Aristophanes’ Birds Dan Sofaer Birds’ Ideal Music between Tradition and Utopia Scholars of Greek Old Comedy often treat comic lyric in a limited manner: meters are analyzed, the occasional allusion to Anacreon or Pindar is noted, the emotional effect of a song is surmised, but somehow these analyses rarely affect our reading of the play in its larger context. For… Read more

13. The Dream

Chapter 13. The Dream Action by Odysseus is just what Penelope envisages next, immediately after the Aedon comparison, in her dream about the eagle and the geese – or rather her message in the form of the dream. [1] The transition is abrupt, and Anhalt comments that Penelope seems to “deflect interest away from the simile.” [2] The abruptness certainly… Read more

14. The Decision

Chapter 14. The Decision In response to the dream tale, Odysseus implicitly asserts that he will do just what Penelope expects, and Penelope is by no means blind to this assurance. She does act accordingly, even though her verbal response is skeptical. The scenario she described is a dream, and dreams, she reminds Odysseus, are not always fulfilled (Odyssey 19.560). Much has been said about Penelope’s famous gates… Read more

15. Back to the Loom

Chapter 15. Back to the Loom Before turning to the question of larger context, it is necessary to consider one more muthos Penelope tells in Book 19: the tale of her weaving and unweaving of Laertes’ shroud. I have left Penelope’s most famous tale aside until now because it occupies a unique position in the dialogue. In general, Odysseus dominates the first part of the conversation, Penelope the second, but… Read more

16. The Pandareids and the Festival of Apollo

Chapter 16. The Pandareids and the Festival of Apollo I have suggested above that to a certain extent the myths Odysseus and Penelope tell each other in Odyssey 19 are related to their own story as a myth might be related to a ritual or a festival, both in the sense that there are parallel thought structures involved, and that the myth is often tragic or negative,… Read more