Early Greek Epic: Language, Interpretation, Performance

668 Pages·2022·4.081 MB·

by  Christos C. Tsagalis

Christos Tsagalis
Early Greek Epic: Language, Interpretation, Performance
Trends in Classics –
Supplementary Volumes
Edited by
Franco Montanari and Antonios Rengakos
Associate Editors
Stavros Frangoulidis · Fausto Montana · Lara Pagani
Serena Perrone · Evina Sistakou · Christos Tsagalis

Scientific Committee
Alberto Bernabé · Margarethe Billerbeck
Claude Calame · Kathleen Coleman · Jonas Grethlein
Philip R. Hardie · Stephen J. Harrison · Stephen Hinds
Richard Hunter · Giuseppe Mastromarco
Gregory Nagy · Theodore D. Papanghelis
Giusto Picone · Alessandro Schiesaro
Tim Whitmarsh · Bernhard Zimmermann
Volume 138
Christos Tsagalis
Early Greek Epic:
Language,
Interpretation,
Performance
ISBN 978-3-11-099372-1
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-098138-4
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-098140-7
ISSN 1868-4785
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022917159
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
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Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com

For Jonathan Burgess

Preface
Τhe 20 studies included in this volume represent a portion of my research in the
field of early Greek epic during the last 20 years. They are preceded by an Intro-
duction and are organized in four parts: Homer, Hesiod, the Epic Cycle, and the
performance of epic. In the Introduction, I offer a general presentation of the
progress made in the field of archaic Greek epic in the last decades and explain
where my own contribution falls within this research field. In parts I-III, I begin
with studies dealing with general topics, then I present those pertaining to more
than one epic, and finally those concerning individual poems. Part IV begins
with a general topic pertaining to performance, while the other three studies are
presented according to the chronological order of the material they contain.
Some of the studies included in this volume are reprinted in their original
form, while others have been revised with additions and further bibliography.
The purpose of this selective updating is to remedy certain infelicities, to engage
with studies which appeared after the initial publication of my own work, as
well as to make more thorough certain points which I have revisited in the
course of time.
All translations of Homeric passages are based on Lattimore 1951 and Rieu
2003 for the Iliad and the Odyssey respectively. For Cyclic epic, I have used the
translation of Burgess 2001. For Apollodorus and Hyginus, I have consulted the
translation of Scott Smith and Trzaskoma 2007. When I provide my own transla-
tion, I note it in a footnote.
I am grateful to the editors of TCSV Franco Montanari and Antonios
Rengakos, for including this book in their highly successful series. The dedica-
tion to Jonathan Burgess is a token of appreciation to a scholar who has been a
source of inspiration for me during the last 20 years.
Christos Tsagalis
Thessaloniki, April 2022
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110981384-202

Contents
Preface  VII
List of Abbreviations  XI
List of the Original Publication Venues  XIII
List of Tables  XV
Introduction  XVII
Part I: Homer
 Towards an Oral, Intertextual Neoanalysis  3
 Detextualizing Homer: Intonation Units, Background Knowledge, and
the Proems of the Iliad and the Odyssey  34
 The Dynamic Hypertext: Lists and Catalogues in the Homeric
Epics  43
 Naming Helen: Localization, Meter, and Semantics of a Homeric
Character  68
 Epic Space Revisited: Narrative and Intertext in the Episode between
Diomedes and Glaucus (Il. 6.119–236)  83
 Ἀπ᾽/κατ᾽ αἰγίλιπος πέτρης: Homeric Iconyms and Hittite
Answers  110
 Revisiting an Old Crux: Iliad 11.609–610  133
 Iliad 11.662: A Note  155
 Deauthorizing the Epic Cycle: Odysseus’ False Tale to Eumaeus
(Od. 14.199–359)  163
X  Contents
Part II: Hesiod
 Poetry and Poetics in the Hesiodic Corpus  209
 Soundplay in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women  256
Part III: The Epic Cycle
 The Gods in Cyclic Epic  283
 γυναίων εἵνεκα δώρων: Interformularity and Intertraditionality in
Theban and Homeric Epic  312
 Cypria fr. 19 (PEG, GEF): A Reconsideration  355
 Telegony  384
 Verses Attributed to the Telegony  407
Part IV: The Performance of Epic
 Ἀοιδός and ῥαψῳδός: Methodological Problems and
Assumptions  427
 Performance Contexts for Rhapsodic Recitals in the Archaic and
Classical Periods  463
 Performance Contexts for Rhapsodic Recitals in the Hellenistic
Period  511
 Rhapsodes and Rhapsodic Recitals in the Imperial Period  543
Bibliography  577
General Index  609
Index of Hesiodic and Homeric Passages  623