Chapters

Abbreviations of Frequently Cited Works

Abbreviations of Frequently Cited Works ABV = J. D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford 1956) ARV2 = J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, 2nd ed. (Oxford 1963) BKT 5.1 = Berliner Klassikertexte 5: Griechische Dichterfragmente: Teil 1, Epische und elegische Fragmente, ed. W. Schubert and U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (Berlin 1907) Davies, Aethiopis = M. Davies,… Read more

Preface

Preface This is the third installment in my series of commentaries (which began with The Theban Epics [2015] and continued with The Aethiopis [2016]) on the fragments of the Epic Cycle. There is now, of course, an excellent introduction to the whole topic in the form of the late Martin West’s The Epic Cycle (Oxford 2013), which displays his genius at full stretch, especially his inerring ability… Read more

Bibliography

Bibliography Adkins, A. W. H. 1983. “Orality and Philosophy.” In Language and Thought in Early Greek Philosophy, ed. K. Robb, 207–227. La Salle, IL. Adler, A. 1928. Suidae Lexicon. Vol. 1. Leipzig. Ahl, F., and H. M. Roisman. 1996. The Odyssey Reformed. Ithaca. Aitchison, J. M. 1963. “Homeric ἄνθος.” Glotta 41.3/4:271–278. … Read more

Appendix. The Semantics of ἄνθος and ἀνθέω

Appendix. The Semantics of ἄνθος and ἀνθέω A number of the passages discussed in this book incorporate the noun ἄνθος, which is commonly translated “flower.” [1] Linguists have however expressed doubts over the semantics of the lexeme: some have suggested that it originally carried a more abstract meaning, such as “surface” or “that which bursts forth.” Therefore, in spite of the usual… Read more

Plates

Plates Plate 1. Spring blooms at the ancient site of Epidaurus, 30 March 2015. Photo by the author. Plate 2. Spring blooms at the ancient site of Eleusis, 31 March 2015. Photo by the author. Plate 3. Spring bloom on the slopes of the ancient site of Mycenae, 10 March 2009. Photo by the author. Plate 4. Narcissus… Read more

Conclusion

Conclusion Over the course of this book, we have gained a sense of the particular choices made by the Homeric poets in forming their vegetal images. We have seen that the relevant images draw on some of the most striking characteristics of the Greek flora—the sudden, exceptionally diverse blooms of the Greek spring. And by accessing these phenomena, the Homeric poets were able to draw their listeners’… Read more

9. Homeric Flowers and the Monstrousness of Death

9. Homeric Flowers and the Monstrousness of Death In the previous chapter, we found that the Homeric floral imagery of death frequently evokes the notion of fertility, at times an exceptional fertility. The Odyssean images that we studied also associate flowers with the notions of insubstantiality and the dissolution of form. As we shall see, these different concepts combine to suggest a particular conception of death. We… Read more

Part III. Youth and Death

Part III. Youth and Death Preamble The third and final part of this monograph focuses on Homeric vegetal images of death and, in particular, on Homeric associations of death with flowers, which provide some of the most striking examples of such imagery. We might feel intuitively that such floral images will capture the brevity of life—its brief bloom—an idea that is common in the modern west,… Read more