Introduction This work is an investigation of signs, their interpretation, and the use to which they are put in the Histories of Herodotus. The collocation ‘signs’ and ‘Herodotus’ is most likely to suggest the bizarre portents, riddling oracles, and striking dreams which make an impression on every reader of the Histories. Yet there are other types of signs and sign systems at play in the work to… Read more
Part 1. The Vocabulary of Signs, Their Transmission, Reception, and Interpretation 1.1 The Sign Herodotus has few words to convey the general concept of a sign. [1] These do not occur as frequently as verbal forms based on some of the same stems. Thus there are only nine instances of the noun σημήιον (‘sign, device on shield’), for example, but some… Read more
Part 2. Sign Systems 2.1 Portents and Their Interpretation in Herodotus 2.1.1 Definition Portents are aberrations and departures from the norm which by reason of their unusual nature and unexpected appearance are interpreted as signs declarative or prescriptive of some present or future action. We shall elaborate on the elements of this definition a little later, but let us look first at the vocabulary which… Read more
Part II. Home is the Hero: Embedded Story Space The traditional narratological division between narrator and character text entered the field of classics via a monograph on Homer. [1] I. J. F. de Jong’s systematic analysis of Iliadic narrative has shown, once and for all, the importance of adopting the basic distinction between διήγησις (narrator text) and μίμησις (character text), which is… Read more
Chapter 3. Greece The most frequently mentioned place-names of mainland Greece include Phthia, Argos, Pylos, Thebes, Sparta, Ithaka, Mycenae, and the islands of Lesbos, Lemnos, Skyros, and Crete. [1] Given that each of these toponyms is closely associated either with a single Iliadic hero or with a specific phase of this hero’s mythical saga, I have decided to examine them separately. From… Read more
Chapter 4. The Troad and Lycia Since the Trojans are fighting in their own country, it is hardly surprising that places in Asia Minor are less often narratively exploited than specific areas of mainland Greece. A few places in the wider Troad, though, are thematized, as they are either tied to the fate of specific heroes or belong to the central core of the epic’s plot. Apart… Read more
Part III. Paratopic Space: Similes and Visual Imagery In this part of the book I examine the Homeric simile, which constitutes both a defining feature of Homeric epic and a hallmark of a mature stage in the development of oral song-making. Similes have been studied either from a taxonomic point of view, [1] or with respect to their diction, [2]… Read more
Chapter 5. Simile Space and Narrative Space In the Iliad, place is most often delineated within the context of the Homeric similes, rather than in narrative. [1] Previous scholarship has emphasized two distinct but equally important aspects of Iliadic Gleichnisorte (“simile spaces”): their use as a way of making intratextual references, and their function within the wider framework of the epic’s plot. Read more
Chapter 6. The Cognitive Aspect of the Homeric Simile Ontological Boundaries The term ontological boundary refers to (a) the creation of vivid mental imagery that transports the audience from the world of the plot to different visual spheres, and (b) a boundary-crossing experience that enables the narrator to create a further spatial division of the typical dichotomy between the mental world of the narrative and the… Read more
Part IV. Descriptive Space Description constitutes a rather restricted mode of discourse within Homeric poetry, where narration is preeminent. [1] In the Iliad, this unequal distribution between narration and description becomes even more obvious than in the Ody ssey, [2] since descriptive passages, around twenty-four in number, refer to various objects that the characters of the plot… Read more
