Chapter 4. Wife [67] We have seen that in one of the traditional patterns that Briseis fulfills she is the wife of a king who gets killed in battle. In Iliad 9.340-341, moreover, Achilles asks if only the sons of Atreus love their wives (alokhous), thereby likening Briseis to Helen and Clytemnestra and inviting us to think of her as Achilles’ “wife.” [1] In… Read more
Chapter 3. Girl [49] In the account of the Trojan War by Dictys of Crete, Briseis is very much a young (or at least unmarried) girl, the daughter of King Brises of Pedasos, whom Achilles receives as a prize along with Diomedeia, the daughter of King Phorbas of Lesbos. [1] In this chapter I explore to what extent, if at all, the Iliad conceives… Read more
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
