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
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
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
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
Appendix 2. Source Texts and Translations Oedipodeia T Tabula Borgiana Nap. Mus. Naz. Inv. 2408 = IG XIV 1292 ii 11 (p. 341 Kaibel) = Jahn-Michaelis K =10 K. Sadurska, Les Tables Iliaques (Warsaw 1964), p. 60, L 3 (plate XI); Squire p. 400. τ]ὴν Οἰδιπόδειαν τὴν ὑπὸ Κιναίθωνος τοῦ]τες ἐπῶν οὖσαν ϝχ´ καὶ τ]ὴν Οἰδιπόδειαν τὴν ὑπὸ Κιναίθωνος τοῦ |[Λακεδαιμονίου λεγομένην… Read more
Bibliography of Most Frequently Cited Works Andersen, Ø. 1978. Die Diomedes-Gestalt in der Ilias. Symbolae Osloenses suppl. 25. Oslo. Bethe, E. 1891. Thebanische Heldenlieder. Leipzig. Burkert, W. 1981. “The Seven Against Thebes: An Oral Tradition between Babylonian Magic and Greek Literature.” In I Poemi epici rapsodici non omerici e la tradizione orale (ed. C. Brillante, M. Cantilena, and… Read more
Abbreviations In the spirit of the series, I have kept abbreviations to a minimum, so as to make the book as reader-friendly as possible. Some of them, however, are very frequent or very convenient, and although most readers are likely to recognize them at first glance, others may find it useful to have them explained. Accordingly, here is a list of the very few abbreviations that are… Read more
Preface The Giants drag down everything from heaven and the invisible to earth, grasping rocks and trees with their hands … and if anyone says that anything else, which has no body, exists, they despise him utterly, and will not listen to any other theory … Therefore the Gods who contend against them strike cautiously from above, and they use noetic weapons from an invisible world,… Read more
Acknowledgments This book was written almost entirely at the Center of Hellenic Studies: I owe to the Center much more than I can put down in words. I loved the place and I adored the people. In the Phaedrus, Socrates says that trees, unlike people, have nothing to teach him, but the dialogue belies him. I suspect I cannot thank places, but I remember them with gratitude… Read more
Introduction. Plato’s Self-Disclosing Strategies Why dialogues? Readers of Plato have asked this question again and again over the centuries, and there is no sign of them relenting. [1] Scholars in particular struggle to understand why Plato wrote dialogues as opposed to philosophical treatises, as if he had deviated from the natural course of things in some way. [2]… Read more
