Reading Quintus Reading Homer Intertextual Engagement in Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica Calum A. Maciver Phd Thesis Classics
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Reading Quintus Reading Homer Intertextual Engagement in Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica Calum A. Maciver PhD Thesis Classics University of Edinburgh 2008 C Maciver PhD Thesis i Thesis Abstract Reading Quintus Reading Homer Thesis Abstract This thesis is a study of Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica , a Greek epic of the third century C.E. written in Greek hexameters in Homeric diction and in a Homeric style and about the post-Iliadic events of the Trojan War. My thesis deals with intertextuality, that is, the relationship between the Posthomerica and the Homeric texts. The Posthomerica has been called a hyper-Homeric text, which has been viewed as a negative trait of the poem. I analyse this Homeric-emulative tendency and discuss the interaction between the cultural and literary influences contemporary to the Posthomerica , and the poem’s overwhelmingly Homeric intertextuality. I assess how Quintus, as a Late Antique reader, reads Homer, and I focus in on the originality and Late Antique interpretative bias of Quintus in his readings and emulation of Homer. Intertextuality points to resemblances and differences, and indicates how a poem that can be called “Homeric” is in fact neo-Homeric in its updating of Homeric ethics, ideologies and poetics. I also discuss throughout the thesis how the Posthomerica is Alexandrian in its indebtedness to Homer. The Posthomerica is a learned text where application of intertextuality by the reader activates and vivifies a poem that has otherwise been dismissed as second-rate. There are four sections in my thesis, all dealing specifically with three separate aspects of poetics. The first section is a study of similes in the Posthomerica . I present a complete statistical analysis of similes in the poem, and compare practice in earlier epics. I then focus on specific examples of similes in the poem, and show how Homeric intertextuality vivifies meaning and characterisation of these similes. Very often the context of the Homeric passage implicated in the Posthomeric simile adds a varying sense and meaning. I also highlight the concern for pattern and structure in the placement of similes in the Posthomerica in a way that derives more from the style of Apollonius Rhodius than Homer. Thus Quintus reads Homer through later Greek epic lenses. My second and third sections are related. I discuss gnomai in the Posthomerica , and present detailed statistics for this understudied area of the poem. I argue that the widespread use of gnomai, particularly in the voice of the primary narrator, provides an ethical thread in the poem, and that the content of these gnomai is non- Homeric, and influenced by Stoicism. Thus within a Homeric-emulative poem we read a recurrent non-Homeric philosophy and ethics carried by gnomai. The third section then focuses on one simile (in Book 14), which, in a very original way, contains a gnome. The simile derives its content from Odyssey 8 and the story of Aphrodite and Ares caught in the act of adultery. I read Quintus updating Homer in this simile and re-presenting the Homeric story with a definite moral, and therefore un-Homeric, emphasis. The fourth section concentrates on ecphrasis and the Shield of Achilles in Posthomerica 5. I show how Quintus presents radically non-Homeric devices within this ecphrasis first narrated in Iliad 18. I argue that this originality within a very Homeric template is reflective of the overall status of the Posthomerica in relation to Homer. I focus in particular on the figure of the Mountain of Arete on the Shield of Achilles, and illustrate how this figure, which is Stoic in its inheritance, behaves as a mise-en-abîme for the key ethical content of the poem found in gnomai. I then discuss the implications of Quintus revising the Homeric Shield of Achilles into a symbol of the Stoic ethics that the Posthomerica , this most “Homeric” of poems, contains. That is the overall focus of this thesis: the interaction of Homeric indebtedness and non-Homeric influences in the Posthomerica . C Maciver PhD Thesis ii Foreword and Acknowledgements Reading Quintus Reading Homer Foreword and Acknowledgements Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica is a demanding text. Even after a three year PhD, there are still so many miles to travel. Howbeit, my postgraduate journey with Quintus has reached its telos . I have at least gained a foothold somewhere on the slopes of the Mountain of Arete . This thesis is a study of intertextuality in the Posthomerica . Parts of Section 4, especially Chapter 14, are a revision of material first presented in my publication ‘Returning to the Mountain of Arete : Reading Ecphrasis, Constructing Ethics in Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica ’, in Baumbach, M., Bär, S., & Dümmler, N. 2007. (Eds) Quintus Smyrnaeus: Transforming Homer in Second Sophistic Epic Berlin, pp. 259-84. I acknowledge my debt to the editors and my supervisors, for criticism and improvements to that work. It is on this page that I am obliged to express my many debts to many people. The first goes to Quintus himself. Whoever he was, and wherever he lived, he gave me the chance to spend much of my twenties on a learned and rewarding text, and lead my life in many pleasant and interesting directions. I would like to thank, first and foremost, Dr. Roger Rees: he was the one responsible for my introduction to Quintus, and as my MSc supervisor, and as supervisor of the initial stages of my PhD, he helped me lay the foundations of this thesis. Dr. Stephanie Winder became his willing replacement as supervisor, and with intellectual rigour combined with great humour and friendship has helped me reach the end of this project. Prof. Douglas Cairns has been my perennial second supervisor throughout my postgraduate studies, and to him I express my deep gratitude for his encouragement and scholarly insight. I also acknowledge here the thesis examiners, Prof. Richard Hunter and Dr. Michael Lurje, for the intense academic nature of the viva voce examination, and for their recommendations. I had the privilege to be taught by a class of teachers at Edinburgh University irreplaceable for their teaching and geniality: Messrs. Hood, Pinkerton, Rutter, and Strachan – to all a big thanks for endearing me to Classics, to poetry, and to the genitive absolute. Warm thanks are due to my friends in the Edinburgh Classics department past and present. They made all my eight years as a student exciting and unforgettable. Special mention also goes to the students I had the great privilege of teaching, and to Dr. Jennifer Nimmo Smith for being the perfect colleague. More personally, I would like to mention my brother (and former student flatmate) Iain for bearing with me and Quintus, my father for his wisdom, and all my brothers and sisters for their interest and support. Thanks go especially to Nicola Dümmler for always being there for me, and more particularly, for turning my staid life upside-down. I am indebted to the University of Edinburgh for a three year award of the Principal’s Scholarship which enabled me to carry out my PhD. I dedicate this thesis to the memory of my mother, who instilled in me the value of education, and whose love I will carry with me always. C Maciver PhD Thesis iii Table of Contents Reading Quintus Reading Homer Table of Contents Thesis Abstract i Foreword and Acknowledgements ii Table of Contents iii Note on Abbreviations and Editions v Introduction 1 I: Reading Similes in the Posthomerica 18 Introduction 18 Chapter 1 Similes in the Posthomerica : An Overview 21 Chapter 2 Comparing Neoptolemus: Flies in the Face of (Poetic) Tradition 28 Chapter 3 Like Father Like Son: Sirius through Epic Lenses 41 Chapter 4 Working in Unison: The Similes of Posthomerica 1 55 Conclusion 73 II: Reading Gnomai in the Posthomerica 75 Introduction 75 Chapter 5 Inherited Wisdom: The Gnome in the Posthomerica 77 Chapter 6 Speaking Gnomai, Reading Gnomai 84 Chapter 7 Inscribing Values: Narrators’ Voices and Poetic Memory 93 Conclusion 119 III: A Gnomic Simile: Reading Helen in the Posthomerica 121 Introduction 121 Chapter 8 Helen Compared, Helen Perceived 123 Chapter 9 (Post-) Homeric Scholion : Re-singing Demodocus and Casting Blame 142 C Maciver PhD Thesis iv Table of Contents Reading Quintus Reading Homer Chapter 10 Helen and Penthesileia: Epic Echoes 153 Conclusion 164 IV: Reading Ecphrasis in the Posthomerica 166 Introduction 166 Chapter 11 The Shield of Achilles: Reading Between the Epics 168 Chapter 12 The Shield of Achilles within the Posthomerica 179 Chapter 13 Reading Abstracts: Dike and the Trojans 196 Chapter 14 Homer, Hesiod, and Quintus: Reading the Mountain of Arete 213 Conclusion 235 Conclusion 237 Bibliography 243 C Maciver PhD Thesis v Note on Abbreviations and Editions Reading Quintus Reading Homer Note on Abbreviations and Editions Throughout this PhD thesis, I use the Harvard system of referencing. In the bibliography, I follow, for journal abbreviations, L’Année philologique. Ancient authors and works are abbreviated after LSJ. The following are the other abbreviations found in the thesis: DNP Cancik, H., & Schneider, H. 1996-2004. (Eds) Der Neue Pauly. Enzyklopädie der Antike. Altertum (Band 1, 3, 6, 10, and 11) Stuttgart GP Denniston, J.D. 1954. The Greek Particles (2 nd Edition) Oxford LIMC Ackermann, H.C., & Gisler, J.-R. 1981-. (Eds) Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae Zurich LSJ Liddell, H.G., Scott, R., & Jones, H.S. 1968. (Eds) A Greek-English Lexicon: Ninth Edition, with Supplement Oxford OCD Hornblower, S., & Spawforth, A. 2003. (Eds) The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3 rd Edition, Revised) Oxford SVF von Arnim, I. 1903. (Ed.) Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta (Vols 2 and 3) Leipzig The editions used for ancient authors are the most recent unless otherwise stated. Similarly, all translation is my own unless otherwise stated.