Chapters

Book Chapter

Part IV: Intertextuality and Intratextual Sequences. 10. The Rhetorics of Supplication and the Epic Intertext (Iliad I 493–516)

Chapter 10. The Rhetorics of Supplication and the Epic Intertext (Iliad I 493–516) Intertextual references that do not belong to specific epic traditions can become thematically associated intratextual sequences in Homeric epic. One form of this arrangement consists of proximal sequences, where topics originating from different versions of a given mythical context are presented intratextually as part of a thematic chain. Cumulative arrangement with its built-in linearity… Read more

Book Chapter

9. Genealogy and Poetic Imagery of a Homeric Formula

Chapter 9. Genealogy and Poetic Imagery of a Homeric Formula The process of crystallization of the dictional material in oral epic poetry is realized in three different levels: reenactment, [1] theme, [2] and traditional referentiality. [3] In this chapter, I will focus my attention on the term traditional referentiality, which refers to… Read more

Book Chapter

Part III. Intertextuality and Diachronically Diffused Relations. 8. The Formula νυκτὸς ἀμολγῷ: Homeric Reflections of an Indo-European Metaphor

Chapter 8. The Formula νυκτὸς ἀμολγῷ: Homeric Reflections of an Indo-European Metaphor Introduction The aim of this chapter is to explore a covert form of intertextuality through the study of the function, origin, and meaning of the formulaic expression νυκτὸς ἀμολγῷ. By intertextuality, I am hereby referring to the use of the same expression in multiple Greek and other Indo-European (and even Mesopotamian) traditions, which allow… Read more

Book Chapter

7. Time Games: The ‘Twenty-Year’ Absent Hero

Chapter 7. Time Games: The ‘Twenty-Year’ Absent Hero Introduction Genetic approaches to Homeric poetry, whether they are Analytical, Unitarian, Neoanalytical, or adopting the viewpoint of historical positivism, have used repetition in different but often misleading ways. Analysts viewed repetition as a symptom of inferior poetic quality, a clear sign indicating multiple authorship. Unitarians tried to explain such repetitions by drawing analogous examples from other writers in… Read more

Book Chapter

6. Viewing from the Walls, Viewing Helen: Language and Indeterminacy in the ‘Teichoscopia’

Chapter 6. Viewing from the Walls, Viewing Helen: Language and Indeterminacy in the ‘Teichoscopia’ Introduction When we discuss the role of Helen in the Iliad, we should always keep in mind that she is situated in the midst of the Iliadic war and myth, which differs in its plot from Trojan lore, albeit their obvious connection. [1] The Iliadic myth is… Read more

Book Chapter

Part II. Intertextuality and Meta-Traditionality. 5. Ἀχιλλεὺς Ἑλένην ἐπιθυμεῖ θεάσασθαι: From the Cypria to the Iliad

Chapter 5. Ἀχιλλεὺς Ἑλένην ἐπιθυμεῖ θεάσασθαι: From the Cypria to the Iliad The aim of this chapter is to examine Proclus’ [1] brief mention in his Chrestomathy of a meeting between Achilles and Helen, which featured as an episode in the Cypria. The relevant passage (157–158 Severyns = 41 Kullmann) runs as follows: καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Ἀχιλλεὺς Ἑλένην ἐπιθυμεῖ… Read more

Book Chapter

4. Intertextual Fissures: The Returns of Odysseus and the New Penelope

Chapter 4. Intertextual Fissures: The Returns of Odysseus and the New Penelope The aim of this chapter is (a) to consider the function of intertextual fissures with respect to Odysseus’ return and reunification with his wife, and (b) to explore how a crucial element of this scene, the story of the Sailor and the Oar, can assist us in examining the relationship between the Odyssey and other… Read more

Book Chapter

3. Nausicaa and the Daughters of Anius: Terms and Limits of Epic Rivalry

Chapter 3. Nausicaa and the Daughters of Anius: Terms and Limits of Epic Rivalry Intertextual associations are based on the repetition of material treated in text A and whose reuse in text B will immediately allow the reader to make the connection to text A. In this way, a new ‘reading’ will emerge, one which does not depend solely on text A or text B, but on… Read more

Book Chapter

2. Χαρίεσσα and στυγερὴ ἀοιδή: The Self Referential Encomium of the Odyssey and the Tradition of the Nostoi

Chapter 2. Χαρίεσσα and στυγερὴ ἀοιδή: The Self Referential Encomium of the Odyssey and the Tradition of the Nostoi One of the main arguments in favor of those who think that the Odyssey ends in xxiii 296 [1] (since both Odysseus’ brief recounting to Penelope of his adventures and the whole of book xxiv are considered later additions) relies on Agamemnon’s speech… Read more

Book Chapter

Part I. Intertextuality between Recognizable Traditions. 1. Ἀνδρομάχη μαινομένη: The Dionysiac Element in the Iliad

Chapter 1. Ἀνδρομάχη μαινομένη: The Dionysiac Element in the Iliad The almost complete absence of Dionysus from the Iliad is well known, as it is commonly recognized that the heroic epic singing the κλέα ἀνδρῶν does not have a place for the god of wine, ecstasy, and bacchic frenzy. Dionysus appears in the Iliad only twice: the first time in the myth of Lycurgus (Iliad VI 132,… Read more