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Ovid's Metamorphosis of the Famous Apologoi

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Ovid's Metamorphosis of the Famous Apologoi Ovid’s metamorphosis of the famous Apologoi A narratological study into Odysseus’ wanderings as told by Homer and Ovid MA Thesis University of Amsterdam/Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Faculty of Humanities MA Classics Radhika S. Sahtie Contact: [email protected] [email protected] Student number: 10714553 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. I.J.F. de Jong Second assessor: Dr. M.A.J. Heerink Word count: 20567 Date of completion: June 15th 2020 1 I hereby declare that this dissertation is an original piece of work, written by myself alone. Any information and ideas from other sources are acknowledged fully in the text and notes. Amsterdam, 15th of june 2020 (place, date) (signature) 2 Table of contents Introduction ....................................................................................................4 Chapter 1. The Cyclops episode ...........................................................................7 Part one: A first analysis .....................................................................................8 1.1 Structure ........................................................................................................................ 8 1.2 Narrator and narratee ..................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Focalization ................................................................................................................... 9 1.4 Time ............................................................................................................................ 10 1.5 Space ........................................................................................................................... 12 Part two: A Comparison with the Odyssey .............................................................. 15 1.6 On a macro-level .......................................................................................................... 15 1.7 On a micro-level ........................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 2. Aeolus and the Laestrygonians ............................................................. 26 Part one: A first analysis ................................................................................... 27 2.1 Structure ....................................................................................................................... 27 2.2 Narrator and narratee ................................................................................................... 27 2.3 Focalization ................................................................................................................. 28 2.4 Time ............................................................................................................................ 31 2.5 Space ........................................................................................................................... 33 Part two: A comparison with the Odyssey............................................................... 33 2.6 On a macro-level .......................................................................................................... 33 2.7 On a micro-level ........................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 3. The Circe episode ............................................................................. 43 Part one: A first analysis ................................................................................... 44 3.1 Structure ...................................................................................................................... 44 3.2 Narrator and narratee ................................................................................................... 45 3.3 Focalization ................................................................................................................. 46 3.4 Time ............................................................................................................................ 46 3.5 Space ........................................................................................................................... 48 Part two: a comparison with the Odyssey ............................................................... 48 3.6 On a macro-level .......................................................................................................... 49 3.7 On a micro-level ........................................................................................................... 51 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 60 Bibliography .................................................................................................. 61 3 Introduction Ovid (43 BCE- 17 AD) may be counted among the most ingenious and influential poets of antiquity. As a contemporary of Augustan authors like Virgil and Horace, he is one of the three canonical poets of Latin Literature. He has been praised widely for many qualities, amongst which the ability to adapt old and famous stories in order to provide them with “contemporary relevance”.1 The majority of his Metamorphoses, for instance, is constituted by Greek myths,2 and the most fascinating feature about his adaptations is the coalescence of Greek and Roman material into a single epic poem,3 making Ovid a rather Hellenistic, but “also a very Roman poet”.4 One of the many Homeric stories that Ovid has transformed,5 is the narrative of Odysseus’ wanderings, or the Apologoi (Od. 9-12).6 The adventures of Odysseus and the Greeks that led them to Polyphemus, Aeolus, the Laestrygonians and Circe are now told not by the hero Odysseus, but by his (invented) comrades Achaemenides and Macareus (Met. 14.154-307;435- 440). This difference in narrator, as one might expect, has consequences for the narration of events. My aim in this thesis is to detect and analyse (similarities and) differences between the Homeric and Ovidian versions of the Apologoi. Needless to say, this is not the first analysis and comparison of the stories. Met.13.623-14.608, in which the Apologoi are embedded, has often been referred to as Ovid’s “Aeneid”.7 This nomenclature is comprehensible, because the passage sets off when Aeneas flees from Troy, and follows the Trojan hero as he travels to Sicily, Cumae and Caieta (where the narration of the Homeric adventures begins). Unsurprisingly then, most studies on this passage focus on (dis)similarities between Virgil’s and Ovid’s “Aeneid”. Rutherford, for instance, explains how Ovid “fills in gaps left by Virgil, while avoiding high points.”8 Thomas thinks that Ovid aimed to correct a strongly Augustan reading of the Aeneid.9 Ellsworth shows how Ovid inserts three triangle love stories, in order to capture the events that occurred in the post-Trojan war period in the Aeneid.10 Whereas a comparison between the Aeneid and the Metamorphoses makes for a very interesting case, my thesis will focus on the Odyssey and the Metamorphoses. I 1 Anderson 1997: 8. 2 See Lafaye 1904 on the Greek models of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. 3 The status of the Metamorphoses as an ‘epic’ poem is a point of debate, see Newlands 2008, especially p.477-78 for an overview of the discussion. 4 Segal 1971: 373. See also Rutherford 2005: 41, where it is explained that the very subject of metamorphosis has a Hellenistic background. 5 Ovid often employs Homeric scenery and characters in his work, for example in the Heroides, or in his Ars Amatoria: see Sharrock 1987. 6 The Homeric Apologue has been studied by many scholars, see e.g. Radermacher 1915, Abrahamson 1956, Suerbaum 1986, Most 1989, De Jong 2001: 221ff., Beck 2005, Hopman 2012. 7 Bömer 1986: 361, Ellsworth 1986,Thomas 2009: 300-303. 8 Rutherford 2005: 43. 9 Thomas 2009: 303. 10 Ellsworth 1986: 32. 4 choose to do so because of the more narrow resemblance in characters, themes and events. However, I will not leave out the Aeneid completely, as Achaemenides is a Virgilian creation. With regard to the commentaries written on book 14 of the Metamorphoses, Bömer takes up an intertextual approach and reminds us of the countless parallels with not only Homer and Virgil, but also other authors, like Valerius Flaccus, Cicero and Seneca. Beside this, his focus lays on textual and grammatical issues.11 Myers pays attention to (dis)similarities of Ovid’s version with the Homeric and Virgilian versions, and her approach emphasizes choices from the author to model his version on (in particular) Virgil’s version and adapt it.12 These approaches focus predominantly on the poet of the Metamorphoses who engages with his predecessors and thus modifies existing stories. All studies mentioned so far are highly relevant, but their intertextual approach might be enriched by a narratological point of view.13 The way I see it, not only the author should be considered whilst analysing differences between the Odyssey and the Metamorphoses, but the narrator-focalizer as well, because the same story is now told from a different point of view. In my opinion, Bömer and Myers do not pay enough attention to the identity of the narrator-focalizer, and how this figure determines the way the story is told. My aim is not to disregard these intertextual approaches in their entirety, but rather to combine intertextuality with narratology:14 I will use the narrator-focalizer as an additional parameter to explain differences between the two texts, whilst engaging extensively
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