Table Of ContentSTUDIA GRAECA ET LATINA LUNDENSIA 4
Unity and Coherence
Studies in Apollonius Rhodius’
Argonautica and the Alexandrian
Epic Tradition
Lars Nyberg
Lund
University
Press
Lund University Press
Box 141
S-221 00 Lund
Sweden
© 1992 Lars Nyberg
Art nr 20262
ISSN 1100-7931
ISBN 91-7966-207-2 Lund University Press
ISBN 0-86238-314-5 Chartwell-Bratt
Printed in Sweden
Studentlitteratur
Lund 1992
To my mother
and to the memory of my father
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Bibliography ix
I Love, fate and deceit. Some principal themes in
the Argonautica 1
1 Unity and coherence 1
2 The problem of unity in the Argonautica 10
3 Thematic connections 14
A Leitmotifs, thematical unity 14
B The themes of fate and love 18
C Barbary versus civilization 19
D The necessity of guile 20
II Imagery and symbols as unifying devices 22
1 The star simile 22
A Iolcus 22
B Lemnos 25
C Polydeuces 27
D Jason 29
2 The fire symbol 37
3 Unifying devices 44
III Eros and Moira 46
1 The concept of tyche in the Hellenistic society 46
2 Five interconnected themes 58
3 Analysis 61
A Pelias 61
B Mopsus and Idmon 63
C Idas 64
D Cyzicus 68
E Hylas-Heracles 70
F Amycus 80
V
G Phineus 82
H The Phrixids 86
I Medea, fate and love 87
a) The besotted witch, eros and deceit 87
b) Olympic interlude 91
c) Medea's tribulations and the question of psychological coherence 95
d) Medea's flight 98
IV The importance of guile, heroism reversed 105
A The Homeric hero 115
B Jason and Alcimede 117
C Jason and Hypsipyle 121
D Jason and Medea 125
V Apollonius and his followers 136
1 The Hellenistic tradition 136
2 Valerius Flaccus 141
A Unifying devices in Valerius’ Argonautica 141
B Principal themes 145
C Individual episodes 151
a) Hypsipyle 151
b) Amyous 157
D Love, fate and deceit in Valerius’ Argonautica 164
a) Jason and Medea 168
b) Jeichoscopia* 174
c) The lovers'flight 179
d) Conclusion 180
VI
Acknowledgements
I would like to extend my warmest thanks to all who have supported me in the
project leading to this dissertation, in particular the members of the Greek
Seminar at the Department of Classical Studies, Lund University, for their
different contributions to my work, and especially Dr Karin Blomqvist,
Professor René Kieffer, Dr Gertrud Lindberg and Dr Lairs Rydbeck. My
greatest debt, however, of sound advice, patient support and friendly
encouragement, is to my advisor. Professor Jerker Blomqvist.
Financial support from the Hjalmar Gullberg and Greta Thott’s fund,
University of Lund travel stipends and Svenska Rominstitutet is gratefully
acknowledged.
Bibliography
Editions
Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica, recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit Herman
Fränkel, Oxonii 1961.
Apollonios de Rhode, Argonautiques, t. Ι-Dl, texte établi et commenté par Francis Vian, et
traduit par Émile Delage et Francis Vian, Paris 1976-1981 (Collections des
Universités de France).
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, with an English translation by R.C. Seaton, London 1912.
Argonautica, Book IH, edited by R.L. Hunter, Cambridge 1989.
The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, Book DI, edited by M M. Gillies, Cambridge 1928.
The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, edited by G.W. Mooney, London 1912.
Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, with an English translation by J.H. Mozely, London 1972.
Homer's Iliad Books I-XXIV, ed. by W. Leaf and M.A. Bayfield, London 1965.
(Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica is quoted from Vian’s edition throughout this study.
Translations of both the Latin and the Greek Argonautica are based on the Loeb edition. The
translations of the Iliad and Archilochus’ poem are my own.)
Other literature
Adamietz (1976) Adamietz, J., Zur Komposition der Argonautica des Valerius
Flaccus, München 1976 (Zetemata 67).
Bachtin (1988) Bachtin, ML, Det dialogiska ordet, Uddevalla 1988.
Barich (1982) Baricb, M. J-, Aspects of the poetic technique of Valerius
Flaccus. Diss., Yale 1982.
Barkhuizen (1979) Barkhuizen, J. H., “The Psychological Characterization of
Medea In Apollonius Rhodes Argonautica 3.744-824”, Acta
Classica 22 (1979) 33-44.
Biuret (1978) Euripides’ Hippolytus, ed. W. S. Barret, Oxford 1978.
Bendz (1971) Bendz, G., Den greldska litteraturen. Litteraturens
världshistoria. Forntiden, Stockholm 1971.
Bessone (1991) Bessone, F., “Valerius Flaccus, Apollonius und die
Gleichnisse” in: Spudasmata 48 (1991).
Bey (1982) Bey, C. H., Epic and Romance in the Argonautica of
Apollonius Rhodius, Carbondale & Edwardsvill 1981.
Blumberg (1931) Blumberg, K. W., Untersuchungen zur epischen Technik des
Apollonius von Rhodos. Diss. Leipzig 1931.
Bloom (1988) Bloom, Harold, Poetics of influence. New and selected
criticism, edited and with an introduction by John Holander,
New Haven 1988.
Bowra (1930) Bowra, C. M., Tradition and Design in the Iliad, Oxford 1930.
Briggs (1981) Briggs, W. W., Vergil and the Hellenistic epic, Berlin & New
York 1981 (Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt).
Bulloch (1989) Bulloch, A. W., “Hellenistic Literature”, in: The Cambridge
History of Classical Literature, The Hellenistic Period and the
Empire, IV, ed. by P. E. Easterling & E. J. Kennedy,
Cambridge 1989,46-58.
Burck (1979) Burck, E., “Die Argonautica des Valerius Flaccus”, in: Das
Römische Epos, herausgegeben von E. Burck,
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1979.
Burck (1971) Burck, E., “Kampf und Tod des Cyzicus bei Valerius Flaccus”,
Revue des Etudes Latines 47 bis (1971) 173-198.
Burnett (1974) Bumett, A, P., “Medea and the Tragedy of Revenge”, Classical
Philology 68 (1973) 1-24.
Burnett (1983) Bumett, A. P., Three archaic poets, Cambridge, Mass. 1983.
Campbell (1983a) Cambell, M., Studies in the Third Book of Apollonius
Rhodius’ Argonautica, Hüdesheim, Zürich & New York 1983
(Altertumswissenschaftliche Texte und Studien IX).
Campbell (1983b) Campbell, M., Index verborum in Apollonium Rhodium,
Hüdesheim, Zürich & New York 1983.
Carson (1986) Carson, A., Eros the bittersweet, Princeton 1986.
Carspecken (1952) Carspecken, 3. F., “Apollonius Rhodius and the Homeric
Epic”, Yale Classical Studies 13 (1952) 33-143.
Clauss (1983) Clauss, J. J., Allusion and the narrative style of Apollonius
Rhodius. A detailed study of Book 1 of the Argonautica,
Berkeley 1983
Claussen (1987) Claussen, W., Vergil’s Aeneid and the Tradition of Hellenistic
Poetry, Berkeley 1987 (Sather Classical lectures).
