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3. Literary Practice, Modality, and Distance

3. Literary Practice, Modality, and Distance The previous two chapters discussed hermeneutic problems and rarely touched on solutions. Positive goals conventionally associated with literary-rhetorical methods of reading were mentioned, but they remain to be explained more fully in the context of interpreting Plato’s dialogues. As I will continue to argue, a powerful teleological impulse directs readers to seek single-minded and persuasive arguments in works that are, nonetheless,… Read more

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Part II. Concerning the Republic. 4. From Beginning to End and Back Again

4. From Beginning to End and Back Again When reading an expository work of heuristic inquiry and argumentation, we can take it as a given that the work itself relies on an underlying framework of methodical progress toward an endpoint, a destination. This assumption does not apply to the Republic, however, mainly because the book is not a heuristic inquiry but a depiction of one. We still… Read more

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Preface

Preface [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.] This book is the first in a planned series of… Read more

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Abbreviations of Most Frequently Cited Works

Abbreviations of Most Frequently Cited Works ARV 2 = J. Beazley, Attic Red – Figure Vase-Painters, 2nd ed. (Oxford 1963) EM = Enzyklopädie des Märchens (Berlin and New York 1977–2014) FGrHist =  F. Jacoby, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (1923–) GGL = L. Schmid, Geschichte der griechischen Literatur, vol. 1.1 (Munich 1929) GP 2 = J. D. Denniston, Greek Particles, 2nd ed. (Oxford 1954) LfgrE… Read more

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1. Oedipodeia

Chapter 1. Oedipodeia Title ἡ Οἰδιποδ(ε)ία (Tabula Borgiana [T: see page 133 for text] and Σ Euripides Phoenician Women [F1: see page 133 for text]), meaning “the poem about Oedipus” (for the variation in spelling and [perhaps] the principle see Stesichorus’ Εὐρωπ(ε)ία fragment 96 with Davies and Finglass ad loc.); or τὰ Οἰδιπόδια (scil. ἔπη) by analogy with the Cypria and Naupactica as Pausanias (F2: see… Read more

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2. Thebais

Chapter 2. Thebais If it were possible to choose a lost work of Greek literature for recovery, the epic Thebais would come high on a preference list. It would answer more questions about Homer than all the deciphering of Mycenaean tablets and excavating of tholos tombs. Willcock 1964:144 = 440 Dass es der Dichter der Thebais war, d. h. der… Read more

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3. Ἀµφιάρεω ἐξελασία

Chapter 3. Ἀµφιάρεω ἐξελασία [1] The third chapter of Bethe’s Thebanische Heldenlieder, bearing the title “Des Amphiaraos Ausfahrt,” is a plump and succulent item which, like many other reference works and similar studies of the time, gives the misleading impression that the epic that passed under this title in antiquity is an oft-attested composition of which numerous fragments survive. Building on… Read more

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4. Epigoni

Chapter 4. Epigoni The Relationship of the Epigoni to the Thebais Just as several scholars have supposed the Iliupersis to be part of a larger epic called the Ilias Parva and have sought thereby to resolve a number of apparent anomalies, so some critics would have the Epigoni be the latter portion of a more general work entitled the Thebais. [1]… Read more

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5. Alcmaeonis

Chapter 5. Alcmaeonis Our sources variously report the epic’s title as Ἀλκμαιονίς, Ἀλκμαιωνίς, and Ἀλκμεωνίς. Ἀλκμέων is the Attic form of the hero’s name (cf. Radt, TrGF 4 p. 149). The briefest comparison of its title with its fragments (especially F1, F5, and F7: see pages 146–148 below for texts) will confirm that the Alcmaeonis, in Huxley’s words, “was wide in scope and diffuse in content” (1969:52). Read more

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Appendix 1. Eriphyle in the Theban Epics

Appendix 1. Eriphyle in the Theban Epics It seemed best to segregate this difficult problem and treat it here. Consideration of the question will also give us an insight into the ways in which past scholars resurrected the plots of lost epics. Bethe’s method was to isolate patterns and tendencies among the forms of the myth preserved by late sources such as the mythographers, and to identify… Read more