Chapter 2. Erato To Erato, the cicadas report those who have honored her in the affairs of love Phaedrus 259d “Athens, N.M. 1260. RF hydria. From Vari. Group of Polygnotos. 440–430 (Beazley). Third quarter fifth. SUBJECT: in the center, a seated woman reading from a […]
Chapter 1. Terpsichore To Terpsichore, the cicadas report those who have honored her in the choral dance (τοὺς ἐν τοῖς χοροῖς τετιμηκότας), and make them dearer to her Phaedrus 259c–d From the third frieze of the François vase, ca. 570 BC. The frieze depicts the […]
Introduction. Plato’s Self-Disclosing Strategies Why dialogues? Readers of Plato have asked this question again and again over the centuries, and there is no sign of them relenting. [1] Scholars in particular struggle to understand why Plato wrote dialogues as opposed to philosophical treatises, as if he had deviated from the natural course […]
Acknowledgments This book was written almost entirely at the Center of Hellenic Studies: I owe to the Center much more than I can put down in words. I loved the place and I adored the people. In the Phaedrus, Socrates says that trees, unlike people, have nothing to teach him, but the […]
Preface The Giants drag down everything from heaven and the invisible to earth, grasping rocks and trees with their hands … and if anyone says that anything else, which has no body, exists, they despise him utterly, and will not listen to any other theory … Therefore the Gods who contend […]
Abbreviations In the spirit of the series, I have kept abbreviations to a minimum, so as to make the book as reader-friendly as possible. Some of them, however, are very frequent or very convenient, and although most readers are likely to recognize them at first glance, others may find it useful to […]
Bibliography of Most Frequently Cited Works Andersen, Ø. 1978. Die Diomedes-Gestalt in der Ilias. Symbolae Osloenses suppl. 25. Oslo. Bethe, E. 1891. Thebanische Heldenlieder. Leipzig. Burkert, W. 1981. “The Seven Against Thebes: An Oral Tradition between Babylonian Magic and Greek Literature.” In I Poemi epici […]
Appendix 2. Source Texts and Translations Oedipodeia T Tabula Borgiana Nap. Mus. Naz. Inv. 2408 = IG XIV 1292 ii 11 (p. 341 Kaibel) = Jahn-Michaelis K =10 K. Sadurska, Les Tables Iliaques (Warsaw 1964), p. 60, L 3 (plate XI); Squire p. 400. τ]ὴν Οἰδιπόδειαν τὴν ὑπὸ Κιναίθωνος τοῦ]τες […]
Appendix 1. Eriphyle in the Theban Epics It seemed best to segregate this difficult problem and treat it here. Consideration of the question will also give us an insight into the ways in which past scholars resurrected the plots of lost epics. Bethe’s method was to isolate patterns and tendencies among the […]
Chapter 5. Alcmaeonis Our sources variously report the epic’s title as Ἀλκμαιονίς, Ἀλκμαιωνίς, and Ἀλκμεωνίς. Ἀλκμέων is the Attic form of the hero’s name (cf. Radt, TrGF 4 p. 149). The briefest comparison of its title with its fragments (especially F1, F5, and F7: see pages 146–148 below for texts) will confirm […]