DOCSLIB.ORG

The Plot of the Agamemnon

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Plot of the Agamemnon The Classical Review http://journals.cambridge.org/CAR Additional services for The Classical Review: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here The Plot of the Agamemnon Arthur Platt The Classical Review / Volume 4 / Issue 03 / March 1890, pp 98 - 99 DOI: 10.1017/S0009840X0018970X, Published online: 27 October 2009 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009840X0018970X How to cite this article: Arthur Platt (1890). The Plot of the Agamemnon. The Classical Review, 4, pp 98-99 doi:10.1017/S0009840X0018970X Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/CAR, IP address: 138.251.14.35 on 16 Apr 2015 98 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW. <pv\d<ro~ovo'' OVTIV' av Ta£g TToAts. Of the 6S6VT(OV 5<peos ]p[ | j democratic side which Alcibiades was then rjv IKAIVC yap xepos | TO Aatov rjfilbv 8e£iov 8' favouring he uses very plain words (243) iy<r<r<tyi€Vov | <j>evytl To KeCvtnv, r/v 8' dyajv urofr yA<uo"<rals irovijpZv irpoOTwrSiv <f>t)\ovp.evol, and pofl-os. Valuable light is thrown on the Ao^os sketches the demagogue in the darkest colours 686vr<ov o<j>toi by a passage in Diodorus (xii. (412 ff.). Euripides will have none of the 70) which tells us that in the front of the young party who iro\£//.ovs av£dvovo~' <tvev Theban force there fought a chosen band of BLKTJS, (f>0£ipovres OOTOVS, 6 fikv ojnos (TTpaTrj- three hundred, oi Trap' iictivois r/vtoxoi KOL Trapa- Aemj, o 8' <us vf3pi^rj, hvvafl.iv i fSaTat KoAou'/tevot. The names are specially Xaj3a>v, | | aAAos 8e p 8 interesting because they show that the band | TO ir\rj6os ei n j$\a.irrercu Ttdff)(wv raSe was really a survival from a time when the (233 fE.), words which were as true applied to heroic methods of fighting were still in vogue those who wished to upset the peace of Nikias and might therefore be attributed by in 420 as in the mouth of Hikias himself Euripides without difficulty to the heroic before the Sicilian expedition (Thuc. vi. period. 12, 2). Finally, when we remember that Amphia- It is perhaps worth observing how careful raus had fled from before the walls of Thebes Euripides is to make his audience see that he through the district of Oropus where the is not really describing a mythical scene, but Athenians sought refuge after Delium, and one in which the majority of themselves that according to the legend he disappeared have taken part. Little illusion as to the at Psaphis (Strabo, 6 399, Philostratus Im- meaning of the play oould be left after the agines i. 26, 3), we see what opportunities reply of Theseus to the Theban herald (404) Euripides had for connecting the battle of ov yap apteral evbs irpos dvSpos, dAA' iXeoOipa Delium with the story of the Seven and how woAis—a statement which is somewhat out of clei erly he availed himself of these opportu- place in the mouth of even the most consti- nities. tutional of ancient monarchs. The play is It has been made an objection to the play permeated with references to other events of that it has no action. That is true. But the day. The words of Theseus (532) the Athenian absorbed in reviewing the 56ev 8' £Ka(TTOv es rb ^>o>s a<f>iKeTo | ivravO'history of his own time unrolled before him airrj\0e, irvevfw. [lev irpbs aWipa, \ TO crZ/Ma 8' h with only a change of names would not have yrjv are but a paraphrase of the inscription felt this any more than he would have felt on those who fell at Potidaea (Hicks, Inscript. it in the Persae. The play is—as the frag- p. 60) ojBrjp fiev i/ri>xas vire8££aTO, o~u>\jjMTa 8e ment of the inrodeo-is describes it—an iyKotfuov xO<!>v] | ru>v8t K.T.\. The lines 847 If. see'AOTJVUIVm and a much more skilful one than a distant reminiscence of the reply of the the Persae. It was easy for Aeschylus to Spartan captured in Sphacteria to the make his panegyric after a great triumph; it Athenian ally who asked him el oi TtOveSnesrequired much greater skill to do so after a ainutv KaXol KayadoC (Thuc. iv. 40). The great defeat. It is not in either case the course of the battle was obviously meant to highest form of dramatic art. But Euripi- remind the audience of Delium. At the des desired not only to praise Athens. He battle of Delium the right wing of the had a policy to support and a lesson to convey Athenians drove back the Boeotians while to his countrymen and, such being his aim, he their own left wing which was opposed to could not have taken better means to attain the Thebans was defeated (Thuc. iv. 96, 3, it. 4). Compare with this (Suppl. 703) Adxos 8' P. GILES. THE PLOT OF THE AGAMEMNON. DH. VEBEALL'S brilliant and ingenious satisfies such modest demands as the introduction to the Agamemnon opens up a aesthetic feeling of every reader makes with question which it will take time to decide regard to the construction, or the skeleton, upon. Having been much discontented for of a tragedy. It is in the hope that the a long time with the plot of the play as we following considerations may do something to have all been taught it, I at any rate am further elucidate this difficult matter that I glad to have something set before me which submit them to the reader. THE CLASSICAL REVIEW. 99 Dr. Verrall lays great stress, as we all If Dr. Verrall is right the conspirators know, on the beacons, a feature of the play had information from Troy. Why then before inexplicable. Now it has never, I watch for a year 1 They need not have think, been pointed out in this connexion begun watching till they heard of the capture that in another story of the voyage home of Troy. The inconsistency is that (1) they from Troy beacons play an important and had news continually, (2) they fear they may disastrous part. Nauplius, the father of be taken unawares. This comes of the epic Palamedes, in revenge for his. son's death, story being transplanted. Homer naturally lighted false beacons and so caused the supposes they have no news, and he sets a returning fleet to suffer shipwreck. Accor- OTCOTTOS. Aeschylus naturally supposes they ding again to the Scholiast on Lycophron's have news but keeps the ownros all the same, •Alexandra, 1093, Nau7rA.ios 8ia.Tp{J3u>v br and leaves the inconsistency to look after 'EAAaSt irapetrKcvatre (jLOLxtvOrjvai Tas yuvai/cas itself as Sophocles does with much worse TUIV hi rrj Tpoia- KO.1 KAvTatytviJarpav fitv ones in Oedipus Hex. If he had troubled crweiu£a> Alyi<r6ia K.T.A. SO then in one story himself about it, he would have made the Nauplius and his beacons (cp. Lycophron <j>v\a£ only have been looking out fora week 1096) are connected with the adultery of or two, but it is no wonder that he prefers the Aegisthus and Clytemnestra to bring about Homeric year. the ruin of the fleet and of Agamemnon ; in 'If we are to fill up the story in all its the other story, that of Aeschylus, or of Dr. details we must suppose that watch was kept Verrall if you like, beacons and the adul- by day as well as by night, for a fleet is terous pair are connected for the ruin of more likely to return by day of the two. Agamemnon. This is hardly an accidental But if the story said they returned by night, coincidence. why should the poet trouble himself further? Again, Aeschylus must have known the Dr. Verrall justly lays stress on and story of Nauplius. For Nauplius was one defends line 1644 : of the characters of the NOOTOI. irplv 8k Te\tvrfj(r<u lyt\jx.oi [6 NawrXtos], <os fih> oi OVK avrbs rjvdpi£es, aAAa <rvv ywrj. rpayiKol Acyouo-i, KAujnenjv, a>? o« 6 rovs voarovs ypat/rais, &i\vpav. Apollodorus Bibl. In further defence it may be observed that I. 2 (page 40 Teubner ed.). And the story this line is a reminiscence of Homer X. 409 : of the shipwreck was told in the Noo-rot. IKTO. UVV ovXoju.cn/ aX6\io. In both the point eTO' 6 vepl Tas Ka<frr)pi&a<s irerpas Br/Xovrai.is the same, that Aegisthus devised the plot \afiAv, says the Chrestomathia of Proclus, in vnth the help of Clytemnestra. the epitome of the NOOTOI. It is no great The great difficulty in Dr. Verrall's view assumption then that the beacon of Nauplius seems to be the <f>v\a£. The Homeric watch- was a familiar story in the time of Aeschylus; man knows perfectly what he is about; why at any rate it is more likely that he adapted does the Aeschylean play a part he does not this beacon story to his own ends than that understand ? It is due, I think, to the Attic there were two independent stories about irony, which is powerfully developed in his beacons. joy at what he supposes the sign of his Can the beacon, one may ask, be doing master's success while it is really the sign of double duty ? Is it both a signal to Gly tem- his ruin, and in his being the unconscious nestra to be ready, and a false fire to destroy instrument, like Emilia, of what he least the Greek fleet 1 Aeschylus does not suggest wishes.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Darkness of Man: a Study of Light and Dark Imagery in Seneca's
    The Darkness of Man: A Study of Light and Dark Imagery in Seneca’s Thyestes and Agamemnon A Senior Thesis in Classics The Colorado College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Arts By Emily Kohut May 2016 Kohut 1 Acknowledgments I would like to give my deepest and heartfelt thanks to Colorado College’s Classics department. Thank you Owen Cramer, Sanjaya Thakur, Marcia Dobson, and Richard Buxton for all of your help, edits, and advice throughout the course of my time here at CC and especially while working on this project. Thank you to my family and friends for supporting me through this whole process and to the many others who have been involved in my time here at CC. This has been an amazing experience and I could not have done it without all of you. Thank you very much. Kohut 2 The Darkness of Man: A Study of Light and Dark Imagery in Seneca’s Thyestes and Agamemnon Seneca’s Thyestes and Agamemnon are texts in which light rarely presents itself, instead it is dark that is present from start to finish. Throughout the course of these texts, I take note of the use and presence, or lack, of light. There appear to be two specific uses of light that serve specific purposes in Thyestes and Agamemnon: natural light (generally indicated with primarily die- or luc-1 based words), and artificial light (referenced by words related to/derived from flamma or ardeo2). Natural light is prominently used only when discussing its being consumed by darkness, while artificial light appears in passages saturated with destruction and chaos.
    [Show full text]
  • Getting Acquainted with the Myths Search the GML Advanced
    Document belonging to the Greek Mythology Link, a web site created by Carlos Parada, author of Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology Characters • Places • Topics • Images • Bibliography • PDF Editions About • Copyright © 1997 Carlos Parada and Maicar Förlag. Getting acquainted with the myths Search the GML advanced Sections in this Page I. Getting acquainted with the myths II. Four "gateways" of mythology III. A strategy for reading the myths I. Getting acquainted with the myths What "getting acquainted" may mean We'll first try to clarify the meaning that the expression "getting acquainted" may have in this context: In a practical sense, I mean by "acquaintance" a general knowledge of the tales of mythology, including how they relate to each other. This concept includes neither analysis nor interpretation of the myths nor plunging too deep into one tale or another. In another sense, the expression "getting acquainted" has further implications that deserve elucidation: First of all, let us remember that we naturally investigate what we ignore, and not what we already know; accordingly, we set out to study the myths not because we feel we know them but because we feel we know nothing or very little about them. I mention this obvious circumstance because I believe that we should bear in mind that, in this respect, we are not in the same position as our remote ancestors, who may be assumed to have made their acquaintance with the myths more or less in the same way one learns one's mother tongue, and consequently did not have to study them in any way.
    [Show full text]
  • Sons and Fathers in the Catalogue of Argonauts in Apollonius Argonautica 1.23-233
    Sons and fathers in the catalogue of Argonauts in Apollonius Argonautica 1.23-233 ANNETTE HARDER University of Groningen [email protected] 1. Generations of heroes The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius brings emphatically to the attention of its readers the distinction between the generation of the Argonauts and the heroes of the Trojan War in the next genera- tion. Apollonius initially highlights this emphasis in the episode of the Argonauts’ departure, when the baby Achilles is watching them, at AR 1.557-5581 σὺν καί οἱ (sc. Chiron) παράκοιτις ἐπωλένιον φορέουσα | Πηλείδην Ἀχιλῆα, φίλωι δειδίσκετο πατρί (“and with him his wife, hold- ing Peleus’ son Achilles in her arms, showed him to his dear father”)2; he does so again in 4.866-879, which describes Thetis and Achilles as a baby. Accordingly, several scholars have focused on the ways in which 1 — On this marker of the generations see also Klooster 2014, 527. 2 — All translations of Apollonius are by Race 2008. EuGeStA - n°9 - 2019 2 ANNETTE HARDER Apollonius has avoided anachronisms by carefully distinguishing between the Argonauts and the heroes of the Trojan War3. More specifically Jacqueline Klooster (2014, 521-530), in discussing the treatment of time in the Argonautica, distinguishes four periods of time to which Apollonius refers: first, the time before the Argo sailed, from the beginning of the cosmos (featured in the song of Orpheus in AR 1.496-511); second, the time of its sailing (i.e. the time of the epic’s setting); third, the past after the Argo sailed and fourth the present inhab- ited by the narrator (both hinted at by numerous allusions and aitia).
    [Show full text]
  • STONEFLY NAMES from CLASSICAL TIMES W. E. Ricker
    ZOBODAT - www.zobodat.at Zoologisch-Botanische Datenbank/Zoological-Botanical Database Digitale Literatur/Digital Literature Zeitschrift/Journal: Perla Jahr/Year: 1996 Band/Volume: 14 Autor(en)/Author(s): Ricker William E. Artikel/Article: Stonefly names from classical times 37-43 STONEFLY NAMES FROM CLASSICAL TIMES W. E. Ricker Recently I amused myself by checking the stonefly names that seem to be based on the names of real or mythological persons or localities of ancient Greece and Rome. I had copies of Bulfinch’s "Age of Fable," Graves; "Greek Myths," and an "Atlas of the Ancient World," all of which have excellent indexes; also Brown’s "Composition of Scientific Words," And I have had assistance from several colleagues. It turned out that among the stonefly names in lilies’ 1966 Katalog there are not very many that appear to be classical, although I may have failed to recognize a few. There were only 25 in all, and to get even that many I had to fudge a bit. Eleven of the names had been proposed by Edward Newman, an English student of neuropteroids who published around 1840. What follows is a list of these names and associated events or legends, giving them an entomological slant whenever possible. Greek names are given in the latinized form used by Graves, for example Lycus rather than Lykos. I have not listed descriptive words like Phasganophora (sword-bearer) unless they are also proper names. Also omitted are geographical names, no matter how ancient, if they are easily recognizable today — for example caucasica or helenica. alexanderi Hanson 1941, Leuctra.
    [Show full text]
  • Odysseus and Palamedes A
    Original NeNureousrcoisecniecnesc easn adn Hd iHstoisrtyo r2y0 21061; 45(; 23)(:3 4)7: 9-590- Pseudodementia, malingering and revenge in Ancient Greece: Odysseus and Palamedes A. Puy Núñez 1, A. Guitián Pena 2, J. M. Pías Peleteiro 3, M. Macías Arribi 4, J. M. Aldrey Vázquez 3 1 Department of Neurology. Pontevedra Hospital Complex. Pontevedra, Spain. 2 Department of Nephrology. Virxe da Xunqueira Hospital. La Coruña. Spain. 3 Department of Neurology. University Hospital Complex of Santiago. Santiago de Compostela, Spain. 4 Department of Neurology. University Hospital Complex of Ferrol. Spain. is study was presented at the LXVII Annual Meeting of the Spanish Society of Neurology (November 2015) in Valencia, Spain. is manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not being submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere ABSTRACT Background: Greco-Latin tradition is a rich source of metaphors and eponyms in medicine. In this paper, we unearth from ancient Greece one of the oldest portraits of malingering in Western literature. Summary: The kidnapping of Helen of Troy triggered a military alliance within Greece against the Trojans. Odysseus, king of Ithaca, feigned madness in order to avoid being recruited. Palamedes, in a manoeuvre that risked the life of Odysseus’ son Telemachus, succeeded in unmasking him. Eventually, the cunning Odysseus would take revenge. We review classical texts from Greek and Roman authors concerning these mythical deeds and establish the diagnosis of malingering after excluding mimics. Key messages: Odysseus’ attempt at deception provides one of the oldest depictions of this behaviour in written history. We suggest using the expression “Revenge on Palamedes” to define the relatively common phenomenon of retaliation against a doctor who has diagnosed malingering.
    [Show full text]
  • The 'Trial by Water' in Greek Myth and Literature
    Leeds International Classical Studies 7.1 (2008) ISSN 1477-3643 (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/) © Fiona McHardy The ‘trial by water’ in Greek myth and literature FIONA MCHARDY (ROEHAMPTON UNIVERSITY) ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the theme of casting ‘unchaste’ women into the sea as a punishment in Greek myth and literature. Particular focus will be given to the stories of Danaë, Augë, Aerope and Phronime, who are all depicted suffering this punishment at the hands of their fathers. While Seaford (1990) has emphasized the theme of imprisonment which occurs in some of the stories involving the ‘floating chest’, I turn my attention instead to the theme of the sea. The coincidence in these stories of the threat of drowning for apparent promiscuity or sexual impurity with the escape of those girls who are innocent can be explained by the phenomenon of the ‘trial by water’ as evidenced in Babylonian and other early law codes (cf. Glotz 1904). Further evidence for this theory can be found in ancient novels where the trial of the heroine for sexual purity is often a key theme. The significance of chastity in the myths and in Athenian society is central to understanding the story patterns. The interrelationship of mythic and social ideals is drawn out in the paper. This paper examines the punishment of ‘unchaste’ women in Greek myth and literature, in particular their representation in Euripides’ fragmentary Augë, Cretan Women and Danaë. My focus is on punishments involving the sea, where it is possible to discern two interrelated strands in the tales.1 The first strand involves an angry parent condemning an errant daughter to be cast into the sea with the intention of drowning her.
    [Show full text]
  • Trojan War - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Trojan War from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia for the 1997 Film, See Trojan War (Film)
    5/14/2014 Trojan War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Trojan War From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For the 1997 film, see Trojan War (film). In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen Trojan War from her husband Menelaus king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably through Homer's Iliad. The Iliad relates a part of the last year of the siege of Troy; its sequel, the Odyssey describes Odysseus's journey home. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid. The war originated from a quarrel between the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite, after Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, gave them a golden apple, sometimes known as the Apple of Discord, marked "for the fairest". Zeus sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the "fairest", should receive the apple. In exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful Achilles tending the wounded Patroclus of all women and wife of Menelaus, fall in love with Paris, who (Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BC) took her to Troy. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Helen's husband Menelaus, led an expedition of Achaean The war troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris' Setting: Troy (modern Hisarlik, Turkey) insult.
    [Show full text]
  • Long Notes with Reledpar in Parallel Pages
    Long notes with reledpar in parallel pages Summarium This le provides example of managing long notes with reledpar when type- setting parallel pages. With \maxhXnotes, we have set the maximum height of critical notes to 0.25\textheight. With \Xonlyside, we have say B notes would print on left pages only, and C notes would print on right pages only . 1 Tous les rois de la Grèce qui descendaient de Minos, ls de Jupiter, vinrent en Crète pour y recueillir la riche succession de Crétéus. Ce prince, ls de Minos, avait réglé par son testament qu’il serait fait un partage égal de tout ce qu’il possédait d’or, d’argent et de troupeaux, entre les enfants de ses lles; et il laissait son empire à Idoménée, ls 5 de Deucalion, son frère et à Mérion , ls de Molus, son neveu, qui devaient gouverner chacun sa part avec un pouvoir indépendant. Entre les princes présents au partage, on distinguait Palamède, ls de Clymène et de Nauplius, et Oeax, appelés Crétéides, avec Ménélas, ls d’Aerope et de Plisthène, qu’Anaxibie, sa soeur, épouse de Nestor, et Agamemnon, son frère aîné, avaient chargé de les représenter dans l’assemblée des 10 héritiers. On connaissait moins ces derniers comme ls de Plisthène, mort à la eur de son âge et sans avoir rien fait de mémorable, que comme petits-ls d’Atrée. Ce prince, en eet, touché de compassion pour la faiblesse de leur âge, les avait recueillis au-près de lui, et s’était chargé de leur donner une éducation conforme à leur naissance.
    [Show full text]
  • The Greek Anthology with an English Translation by W
    |^rct?c^tc^ to of the Univereitp of Toronto JScrtrani 1I-1. iDavit^ from the hoohs? ot the late Hioncl Bavie, Hc.cT. THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY EDITED BY E. CAl'PS, Ph.D., LL.D. T. E. PAGE, Lut.D. W. H. D. IWUSE, LnT.D. THE CiREEK ANTHOLOGY III 1 *• THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY W. R. PA TON IN FIVE VOLUMES III LONDON : WILLIAM HEINEMANN NEW YORK : G. P. PUTNAM S SONS M CM XV 1 CONTENTS BOOK IX. —THE DECLAMATORY EPICRAMS 1 GENERAL INDEX 449 INDEX OF AUTHORS INCLUDED IN THIS VOLUME . 454 GREEK ANTHOLOGY BOOK IX THE DECLAMATORY AND DESCRIPTIVE EPIGRAMS This book, as we should naturally expect, is especially rich in epigrams from the Stephanus of Philippus, the rhetorical style of epigram having been in vogue during the period covered by that collection. There are several quite long series from this source, retaining the alphabetical order in which they were arranged, Nos. 215-312, 403-423, 541- 562. It is correspondingly poor in poems from Meleager s Stephanus (Nos. 313-338). It contains a good deal of the Alexandrian Palladas, a contemporary of Hypatia, most of wliich we could well dispense with. The latter part, from No. 582 07iwards, consists mostly of real or pretended in- scriptions on works of art or buildings, many quite unworthy of preservation, but some, especially those on baths, quite graceful. The last three epigrams, written in a later hand, do not belong to the original Anthology. ANeOAOriA (-) EnirPAM.M ATA RTIIAEIKTIKA 1.— 110ATAIX(;T :::a1'A1AN()T AopKuSo^; upTiroKoio Ti6i]i')]T)'ipioi' ovdap efjLTrXeov r)p.vaav ^ 7rifcp6<i erv^ev e)(i<;.
    [Show full text]
  • Divine Riddles: a Sourcebook for Greek and Roman Mythology March, 2014
    Divine Riddles: A Sourcebook for Greek and Roman Mythology March, 2014 E. Edward Garvin, Editor What follows is a collection of excerpts from Greek literary sources in translation. The intent is to give students an overview of Greek mythology as expressed by the Greeks themselves. But any such collection is inherently flawed: the process of selection and abridgement produces a falsehood because both the narrative and meta-narrative are destroyed when the continuity of the composition is interrupted. Nevertheless, this seems the most expedient way to expose students to a wide range of primary source information. I have tried to keep my voice out of it as much as possible and will intervene as editor (in this Times New Roman font) only to give background or exegesis to the text. All of the texts in Goudy Old Style are excerpts from Greek or Latin texts (primary sources) that have been translated into English. Ancient Texts In the field of Classics, we refer to texts by Author, name of the book, book number, chapter number and line number.1 Every text, regardless of language, uses the same numbering system. Homer’s Iliad, for example, is divided into 24 books and the lines in each book are numbered. Hesiod’s Theogony is much shorter so no book divisions are necessary but the lines are numbered. Below is an example from Homer’s Iliad, Book One, showing the English translation on the left and the Greek original on the right. When citing this text we might say that Achilles is first mentioned by Homer in Iliad 1.7 (i.7 is also acceptable).
    [Show full text]
  • The TROJAN WAR
    The TROJAN WAR The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete Indiana University Greek and Latin Classics and Dares the Phrygian TRANSLATED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY R. M. FRAZER, JR. Indiana University Press BLOOMINGTON & LONDON CONTENTS INTRODUCTION The Medieval Troy Story 3 The Anti-Homeric Tradition 5 Dictys 7 Dares 11 The Translation 15 A JOURNAL OF THE TROJAN WAR by Dictys of Crete Letter 19 Preface 20 Book One 23 Book Two 37 Book Three 70 Book Four 87 Book Five 103 Book Six 119 THE FALL OF TROY, A HISTORY by Dares the Phrygian [Letter] 133 Sections 1-44 133 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Copyright © 1966 by Indiana University Press BIBLIOGRAPHY 169 Library of Congress catalog card number: 65-19709 NOTES 170 Manufactured in the United States of America INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 180 v THE TROJAN WAR The Chronicles Adcnowledgments of Dictys of Crete The present volume brings together for the first time in En­ and Dares the Phrygian glish translation the accounts of Dictys and Dares about the Trojan War. These works deserve our careful attention as the principal sources of the medieval Troy story and as examples of the anti-Homeric literature of late antiquity. In the introduction I have briefly described the influence of our authors on later European literature, and have tried to show how our Latin texts depend on Greek originals. For the latter purpose I have found the scholarship of Nathaniel Edward Griffin especially rewarding for Dictys and that of Otmar Schissel von Fleschenberg for Dares. I have used the notes to comment on matters of form (how our Latin texts probably differ from their Greek originals), to point out difficulties and incon­ sistencies, and to cite some of the sources and parallel versions of the stories that Dictys and Dares tell.
    [Show full text]
  • Aeschylus' Clytemnestra Versus Her Senecan Tradition
    Aeschylus’ Clytemnestra versus her Senecan Tradition Edith Hall 1. Clytemnestra’s gauntlet An unknown Etrurian sculptor in the second century AD decorated an alabaster urn with a scene in which Clytemnestra takes the principal role in the murder of Agamemnon (fig. 1). It is an unremarkable art work in both design and execution, but it has a peculiar significance that only a diachronic process of reflection on the figure of Clytemnestra can reveal. For this is the sole certain ancient visual illustration of the murder of Agamemnon to post-date Aeschylus’ Oresteia which makes Clytemnestra the primary agent in her husband’s slaughter.1 Literary versions which make her both mastermind and the executor of the crime are also rare, one exception being Philostratus’ even later Cassandra, an ecphrasis of a painting written in about 300 AD (Imagines 2.10, see further Easterling, this volume, pp. 000). Philostratus’ semi-crazed Clytemnestra, her hair streaming, is visualised assaulting Cassandra with an axe still warm from Agamemnon’s body (2.10.4). It is striking, however, that even here, in a detailed description of Agamemnon’s return which self-consciously harks back to classical Athenian tragedy, no mention whatsoever is made of Iphigenia.2 Clytemnestra dominates the Aeschylean play named after her husband. She is a murderer, an androgyne, a liar, an orator, and executor of a palace coup. She is also an avenging mother. Of all the characters she has the most powerful speeches and the most confrontational scenes. Her impact was swift: when the legal speech-writer Antiphon composed the case for the prosecution in the mid-fifth-century trial of a woman accused of murdering her husband (a trial which would have been held, like the trial depicted in Eumenides, at the court of the Areopagus), he invoked a parallel with Clytemnestra (Antiphon 1.17).
    [Show full text]