The Roman Odysseus The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Miller, Rebecca Anne. 2015. The Roman Odysseus. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:17467359 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA The Roman Odysseus A dissertation presented by Rebecca Anne Miller to The Department of the Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Classical Philology Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts May 2015 © 2015 Rebecca Anne Miller All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Professor Richard F. Thomas Rebecca Anne Miller The Roman Odysseus Abstract This dissertation investigates how Roman authors, especially of the Augustan period, comment on their literary relationship with their Greek literary predecessors through the complex character of Odysseus. It argues that Roman writers emphasize Odysseus’ deceptive qualities to distance themselves from the Greek literary tradition, and at the same time to underscore their own inheritance of and indebtedness to that tradition. Odysseus’ multi-faceted character and wide-ranging travels, I suggest, made him an ideal lens through which Roman authors, spanning from Livius Andronicus in the 3rd century BCE to Juvenal in the 1st century CE, could consider their own position as poets in a simultaneously Greek and Roman literary tradition. The dissertation focuses on Odysseus as he is portrayed in extended scenes of Latin poetry and considers the evolution of Odysseus’ Roman character chronologically, beginning with Livius Andronicus’ translation of the Odyssey and the establishment of the Latin literary tradition. His next major appearance is in Plautus’ Bacchides, where he serves as an exemplum for the tricky slave as well as the playwright himself. Odysseus is later picked up in the comedic vein by Horace in Satire 2.5, in which the hero acts as a model for the duplicitous figure of the inheritance hunter. After Horace, Ovid employs Odysseus in two different works, first as the ideal Roman orator in Metamorphoses 13 and then later as a foil for the poet’s own trials and travails throughout his exile poetry. Lastly, there is a return to satire, where Odysseus is brought in by Juvenal as an antithesis to his own poetic authority in Satire 15. iii All of these examples of Odysseus in Latin literature demonstrate how Roman authors use this particular Homeric epic hero to articulate issues that are temporally and culturally specific to Rome. Roman authors furthermore reimagine Odysseus in Roman terms and contexts in an effort to construct and tear down bridges between their own Roman culture and that of their Greek predecessors, which in turn renders Odysseus as a stand-in for the Latin literary tradition vis-à-vis the Greek literary tradition. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………….……………vi Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..…1 Chapter 1. Meus Ulixes: The Greek Hero of Roman Literature…………………………………15 Chapter 2. Hook, Line, and Sinker: Ulysses the Captator in Horace, Satire 2.5……………..…39 Chapter 3. Of the Roman Persuasion: Ulysses the Orator in Ovid’s Armorum Iudicium……..…69 Chapter 4. Stranger than Fiction: The (In)Credible Tales of the Wandering Odysseus…..……107 Conclusion…………………………………..……………………………………………….…135 Abbreviations and Works Cited……………..………………………………………………….137 v Acknowledgements Unlike Odysseus’ homecoming, it truly took the effort of a crew infinitely more worthy and steadfast to bring this dissertation safely into port. Of this vast crew, my greatest thanks are owed to my committee, Richard Thomas, Dave Elmer, and Leah Whittington. Individually and collectively they inspired and challenged me with their insightful feedback, and they often knew more clearly what I was doing than I knew myself. This journey would not have been nearly so enjoyable without their continuous support and enthusiasm. Emma Dench has been there since the beginning of my graduate career as a voice of reason and balance, which helped me stay true to myself, especially in moments of uncertainty. Alex Sens and Charlie McNelis encouraged me down this path more than a decade ago; without their advice and a fateful email exchange with Charlie, this dissertation would not exist. Rob Cioffi and Lauren Curtis have been dear friends and colleagues; they read various parts of the dissertation in the early stages and helped me to see the bigger picture of my project. So many friends have kept me going through the dissertation process and beyond. Sarah Rous, Alyon Lynch, Teresa Wu, Sarah McCallum, and Charlie Bartlett have been boundless sources of comfort, laughter, generosity, and true friendship. It was a joy to share an office space with Chris Parrott, who was a sympathetic sounding board and drinking buddy. Liz Engelhardt and Dave Camden were always ready for a night of pub trivia or to open up their home for a delicious meal of collard greens and pulled pork. All of the participants in my fantasy sports leagues (no matter their level of dedication…) proved to be a wonderful support network in their own right as well as a welcome outlet for my occasional need to trash talk. vi To my family I owe the most. There are not enough words to express my gratitude to my parents, who have been there for me during every high, low, and in-between. My brother has been an inspiration to me, both in graduate school and in life, and he never lets me forget to keep taking risks. Justin Brown has given me more in this past year than I ever thought possible, and I’m excited to take the next steps beyond graduate school with him. This dissertation is dedicated to my grandparents, Rosi and Albin Gaspar, who survived their own post-war odyssey and made all of this possible. vii Introduction* Odysseus,1 even outside of his eponymous epic, is a seemingly ubiquitous figure in Greek mythology, and his actions often trigger significant events during the Trojan War—he is not only the mastermind behind the Trojan Horse, but he is also a key instigator and leader of so many of the elements that were necessary to bring about the fall of Troy. Many of these exploits exemplify his cunning, including his own attempt to evade entering the war and his ploys to bring Achilles and later Philoctetes to Troy.2 Others reveal a nebulous morality, such as his actions in the Doloneia, his killing of Astyanax, and his theft of the Palladium.3 This catalogue is by no means exhaustive, and the addition of variants of many of these episodes intensifies the sense of Odysseus as a constant presence in Greek literature, in its enduring tradition long after Homer. The primary characterization of Odysseus in the Odyssey nonetheless remains crucial to * I have used the following standard editions of the primary texts discussed in this dissertation: Horace: Schackleton Bailey (1985); Plautus: Leo; Livius Andronicus: Blänsdorf (1995); Homer, Odyssey: van Thiel (1991); Homer, Iliad: West (1998–2000); Ovid, Metamorphoses: Tarrant; Ovid (amatory poetry): Kenney; Ovid, Tristia: Hall (1995); Ovid, Ex Ponto: Richmond (1990); Virgil: Mynors (1969); Juvenal: Clausen (1992). Translations of Homer are by Lattimore; Virgil, Aeneid by Mandelbaum; Horace, Satires, Epistles, and Ars Poetica modified from Fairclough’s Loeb; Ovid, Metamorphoses modified from Miller’s Loeb, Tristia and Ex Ponto modified from Wheeler’s Loeb; Juvenal from Braund’s Loeb; Plautus, Bacchides by Barsby (1986). All other translations of ancient authors, unless indicated otherwise in the footnotes, are modified or directly from the most recent Loeb editions. 1 Throughout the dissertation, I use “Odysseus” and “Ulysses” not only to refer to the character and his actions in a given text, but also, more frequently, the collected associations, actions, behaviors, and characterizations that his name has accrued since before Homer (cf. Bonifazi (2010), 98–99, and the “high meaningness” of ἀνδρά, despite its being the first word of the Odyssey with no explicit referent). For the purposes of this study, I consider “Odysseus” to be primarily a site for Roman authors to negotiate their cultural and literary values vis-à- vis those of their Greek predecessors. “Ulysses” represents the translation of those values into Roman terms, which still carries with it all of the previousy amassed associations, but now with the addition of those associations made by the Roman poets discussed herein. 2 For Odysseus’ feigned madness and the consequent death of Palamedes, who outwitted him, see the fragments of the Cypria in West (2012), 102–103. Extended representations of the recruitment of Achilles and Philoctetes were composed respectively by Statius in his Achilleid and the Philoctetes by Sophocles. 3 In the Iliou Persis it is Odysseus who kills Astyanax, whereas in the Little Iliad it was done by Neoptolemus (see West (2012), 240). The theft of the Palladium likewise is told in multiple versions, but frequently Odysseus and Diomedes are linked as the agents; see West (2012), 165 and 199–203. 1 later versions of Odysseus,4 for example in Virgil, Ovid, Dante, Tennyson, Joyce, and the Coen brothers, among many others. His ability to adapt is unparalleled among mythological heroes,5 due in large part to the “many turns” of his nature as well as to his symbolic story of the human condition and the prototypical man as outlined in the Odyssey.6 The “everyman” quality of his travels and desires, as well as his embodiment of the slippage between truths and lies, provide infinite points of contact and reference for poets, writers, and scholars.