Mythical Narratives in Stesichorus: Greek Heroes on the Move

350 Pages·2021·2.537 MB·English

by  Sofia Carvalho

Sofia Carvalho
Mythical Narratives in Stesichorus
Trends in Classics –
Supplementary Volumes
Edited by
Franco Montanari and Antonios Rengakos
Associate Editors
Stavros Frangoulidis · Fausto Montana · Lara Pagani
Serena Perrone · Evina Sistakou · Christos Tsagalis

Scientific Committee
Alberto Bernabé · Margarethe Billerbeck
Claude Calame · Jonas Grethlein · Philip R. Hardie
Stephen J. Harrison · Stephen Hinds · Richard Hunter
Christina Kraus · Giuseppe Mastromarco
Gregory Nagy · Theodore D. Papanghelis
Giusto Picone · Alessandro Schiesaro
Tim Whitmarsh · Bernhard Zimmermann
Volume 115
Sofia Carvalho
Mythical Narratives
in Stesichorus
Greek Heroes on the Move
ISBN 978-3-11-071545-3
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-071573-6
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-071588-0
ISSN 1868-4785
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942026
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
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
To my daughter

Contents
Acknowledgements   IX
Preliminary Note   XI

Introduction  XIII
Stesichorus’ biography  XIV
Stesichorus’ professional context  XXIII
Stesichorus’ performance  XXV
The myth in Stesichorus and travelling motifs  XXXII
 Adventure  1
. The Geryoneis  2
.. Mapping the far west (frr. 8–10 F.)  8
.. Geryon’s heroism (frr. 12–15 F.)  19
.. Callirhoe’s plea (frr. 16 and 17 F.)  27
.. The gods’ Assembly and a parallel with the Cycnus (frr. 18 and
166 F.)  32
.. Heracles’ tactis and the example of the Boarhunters (frr. 19 and
183 F.)  35
.. Heracles in Thessaly (fr. 22a F.)  43
 Escape and Returns  47
. The Sack of Troy  47
.. Divine pity and Epeius (fr. 100 F.)  50
.. The Trojan Debate (frr. 103 and 104 F.)  59
.. Divine abandonment (fr. 114 F.)  68
.. The death of Astyanax (frr. 107 and 116 F.)  70
.. Polyxena’s sacrifice (frr. 118 and 119 F.)  73
.. The recovery of Helen (frr. 106, 113, and 115 F.)  76
.. Hecuba’s rescue (frr. 108 and 109 F.)  84
.. Aeneas’ escape (fr. 105 F.)  87
. The Nostoi  95
.. Aristomache (fr. 169 F.)  98
.. Telemachus in Sparta (fr. 170 F.)  99
 Abduction  105
. The Europeia  107
. The Helen  115
VIII  Contents
.. Tyndareus’ fault (fr. 85 F.)  116
.. Helen in Athens (fr. 86 F.)  128
.. Helen back to the Peloponnese (fr. 87 F.)  132
.. Helen in Sparta (fr. 88 F.)  135
. The Palinode  138
.. Helen in Egypt (frr. 90, 91a, and 91c F.)  138
 Exile  157
. The Oresteia  157
.. The opening of Stesichorus’ Oresteia (frr. 172–174 F.)  162
.. Iphigenia’s sacrifice (frr. 178 and 181.25–27 F.)  175
.. Clytemnestra’s dream (fr. 180 F.)  180
.. The Nurse Laodamia (fr. 179 F.)  189
.. Electra and the return of Orestes (fr. 181 F.)  192
.. The bow of Apollo and the matricide (fr. 181.14–24 F.)  197
. The Thebais?  204
.. Oedipus in (or out of) the Thebais  215
.. Teiresias’ Prophecy  218
.. The identity of the Queen  223
.. The Queen’s speech (fr. 97.201–231 F.)  230
.. Casting lots and Teiresias’ advice (fr. 97.235–291 F.)  247
.. Polynices’ journey (fr. 97.291–303 F.)  250
 Conclusion  254
Bibliography  259
Index Nominum et Rerum  289
Index of Sources  297
Acknowledgements
This book is a result of my doctoral investigation awarded by the University of
Coimbra and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BD/
85173/2012) which allowed me to be dedicated in full to this enterprise and cre-
ated the conditions for several visits to the University of Nottingham during the
research. I am thankful for the guidance, knowledge, and generosity of Patrick
Finglass who supervised and discussed the research outputs and the manu-
script and to Frederico Lourenço who encouraged me to pursue higher goals
and challenges. A word of thanks is also due to Carlos de Jesus who commented
the manuscript and made relevant suggestions of improvements, and to João
Baptista for his constant presence throughout the years that took this volume to
be completed. This book could not have been successfully concluded without
the help, the encouragement, and the marvellous work of the editors and staff
of De Gruyter’s Trends in Classics, especially Professors Franco Montanari and
Antonios Rengakos for accepting the publication of this volume, and to Marco
Michele Acquafredda, Katerina Zianna, and Anne Hiller.
Finally, I want to address my deepest gratitude and love to my family who
stood by my side through the perils of this task, especially to Miguel whose love
and support have guided me throughout all the aspects of this and other pro-
jects, and to our daughter to whom I dedicate this book.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110715736-204