Table Of ContentEPIC INTERACTIONS
jaspergriffin,ma(Oxon.),fbawasuntilhisretirementinSeptember
2004 Professor of Classical Languages and Literature, University of
OxfordandaFellowandTutorofBalliolCollege,Oxford.HewasPublic
Orator for the University of Oxford from 1992 to 2004. His books
include Homer on Life and Death (Oxford, 1980), Latin Poets and
RomanLife(Oxford,1985)andHomer:IliadIX (Oxford,1995)
Epic Interactions
Perspectives on Homer, Virgil, and the Epic
Tradition
Y
Presented to Jasper Gri n by
Former Pupils
Edited by
M. J. CLARKE, B. G. F. CURRIE,
AND R. O. A. M. LYNE
1
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Epicinteractions:perspectivesonHomer,Virgil,andtheepictradition:presented
toJasperGriffinbyformerpupils/editedbyM.J.Clarke,B.G.F.Currie,and
R.O.A.M.Lyne.
p.cm.
ISBN-13:978-0-19-927630-1(alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-19-927630-7(alk.paper)
1. Epicpoetry.Classical–Historyandcriticism.2. Homer–Criticismand
interpretation.3. Homer–Influence.4. Virgil–Criticismandinterpretation.
5. Griffin,Jasper.I.Clarke,M.J.II.Currie,B.G.F.III.Lyne,R.O.A.M.
PA3022.E6E752006
809.1’32–dc22 2006007427
TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondicherry,India
PrintedinGreatBritain
onacid-freepaperbyBiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn
ISBN0–19–927630–7 978–0–19–927630–1
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Preface
This collection of essays dedicated to Jasper GriYn aims to investi-
gatethevibrancyoftheclassicalepictradition.Thebookasawhole
considers the uses made by writers at widely diVerent times and
placesofasingleliteraryformtoexploretheauthor’splaceinliterary
andculturalhistory.
Jasper GriYn retired as Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College and
ProfessorofClassicalLanguagesandLiteratureatOxfordUniversity
inautumn2004.Sixofthechapters(Chs.1,3,5,7,9,and11)were
presented at a conference on 11 September that year to mark his
retirement;allspeakersattheconference,andallcontributorstothis
volume, were pupils of Professor GriYn. A volume of essays by
formerpupilsonHomer,Virgil,andtheirreceptionseemedaWtting
tributetoascholardistinguishedforateachingcareerspanningmore
than forty years andfor numerouspublications on Greek and Latin
literature inwhich Homer and Virgil consistentlyoccupiedpride of
place.Therangeofthisvolume—whosechronologicallimitsarethe
eighthcenturybcandthenineteenthcenturyofourera,encompass-
ingliteraturewritteninancientGreek,Latin,OldEnglish,OldIrish,
Italian,andmodernEnglish—isintendedasatributetoGriYn’sown
extraordinary range in teaching and research, while also catering to
theinterestsandexpertiseofthecontributors.
Thechoiceofchapter subjectsand of contributors ishardly arbi-
trary, but it necessarily gives only a selective representation of the
subject matter and (no less embarrassingly for the editors) only a
selection of the professional classicists who have been pupils of
GriYn. The volume oVers sequential readings of several signiWcant
momentsin theclassical epictradition. While thechapterscanvery
well be read in isolation, they aremeant to bear reading as a mean-
ingful sequence. Unavoidably, signiWcant moments in the tradition
have not been included (the Latin historical epic of Ennius, Lucan,
and Silius is a notable absence); but there are, we hope, compensa-
tory gains. The book is, predictably enough, more and less than a
historyofagenre.
vi Preface
The book’s tripartite structure will be evident at a glance. It
considers ‘epic interactions’ Wrst within ancient Greek literature
(Chs. 1–4); second, within Latin literature (Chs. 5–8); and last, in
the vernacular literatures of medieval, renaissance, and modern
Europe (Chs. 9–11). There are more detailed correspondences
betweentheWrstandsecondparts,onepicinteractionsintheGreek
and Roman worlds. The Wrst chapters of each part (Chs. 1 and 5)
consider how the foundational epics of Greece and Rome, those of
HomerandVirgilrespectively,interactwithearlierepictradition.The
second chapters (2 and 6) consider the interaction of these founda-
tionalepicswithaculturalphenomenon:HomerwithGreekreligion,
andVirgilwiththemonumentsofAugustanRome.Thethirdchap-
ters(3and7)explorehownon-epicliterarygenresinteractedwiththe
foundational epics: how Herodotus’ Histories interact with the Iliad
andtheOdyssey,andhowHoratianlyricandPropertianandOvidian
elegy(andOvidianepic)interactwiththeAeneid.Thefourthchapters
(4 and 8) explore how epic poems once considered ‘post-classical’,
Hellenisticand‘Silver’Latinepic(especiallyApollonius’Argonautica
andStatius’Thebaid),interactwiththefoundationalepics.
Despite its great range, we see the book—and conceived it at the
outset—ashavingauniWedsubject,conveyedforusintheconceptof
‘epic interactions’. We have tried not to impose the theme heavy-
handedly on the individual chapters, but to let it emerge from the
contributors’owntreatments.AconcludingEpilogueexplorescom-
mon ground and diVerences between the chapters, and considers
ways in which they form a continuous or an interlocking sequence.
Neither term in the book’s main title, we are aware, is straightfor-
ward. We have favoured ‘interaction’ as a non-technical word
without any Wxed theoretical implications. No dogma is envisaged
by it. For us, ‘interactions’ suggests an open-ended set of related
questions that can be asked of the texts handled. As used by the
writers in this volume, ‘interaction’has aYnities to notions of liter-
ary history, reception, intertextuality, and cultural poetics; but it is
identicalwithnoneofthese,andthatistheword’schiefrecommen-
dation to us. There arewell-known problems in deWning ‘epic’, too;
anditiswellknownthatthesehaveanideologicalaswellasaliterary
aspect. This Preface is not the place to explore these; they will
resurfaceinthechaptersthatfollow.
Preface vii
This is the place, however, to pay tribute to another Fellow and
Tutor of Balliol College and Professor of Classical Languages and
Literature at Oxford University. Oliver Lyne died aged 60 in March
2005whentheeditorialprocessofthisbookwasenteringitsclosing
stages. At the time of his death Professor Lyne, who had been a
colleague of Professor GriYn’s for over thirty years (but not a
pupil), was about to start writing the Epilogue for the book. His
inputintothebookhadalreadybeenconsiderable:sincethesummer
of2002hehad,togetherwithhisyoungerco-editors,determinedthe
book’s conception and shape, and in the months from September
2004 to March 2005 edited several of the chapters. Many of the
contributors to the volume were pupils of Lyne as well as GriYn,
andthisisanintellectualdebttoothatisrecognizedinthefollowing
pages.
Finally, we thank Hilary O’Shea of Oxford University Press for
encouraging the project, our copy-editor Heather Watson, and
proof-reader Anne Marriott. Katrin Stelter gave us the benefit of
hercriticalacumenthroughout.
M.J.C.andB.G.F.C.
DublinandOxford
July2005
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
ConventionsandAbbreviations xi
Contributors xii
1. HomerandtheEarlyEpicTradition 1
BrunoCurrie
2. Homer’sReligion:PhilologicalPerspectivesfrom
Indo-EuropeanandSemitic 47
SimonPulleyn
3. HomerandHerodotus 75
ChristopherPelling
4. HellenisticEpicandHomericForm 105
GregoryHutchinson
5. TheAeneid:InheritanceandEmpire 131
RebeccaArmstrong
6. TheEpicandtheMonuments:Interactionsbetween
Virgil’sAeneidandtheAugustanBuildingProgramme 159
StephenHarrison
7. AugustanResponsestotheAeneid 185
MatthewRobinson
8. StatiusandtheSublimityofCapaneus 217
MatthewLeigh
9. Achilles,Byrhtnoth,andCu´ Chulainn:Continuity
andAnalogy fromHomer totheMedievalNorth 243
MichaelClarke
10. QuantumMutatusabIllo:MomentsofChange
andRecognitioninTassoandMilton 273
EmilyWilson
