Poet and Audience in the "Argonautica" of Apollonius

167 Pages·1996·5.857 MB·English

by  Robert V. Albis

Poet and Audience in the
Argonautica of Apollonius
Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches
General Editor: Gregory Nagy, Harvard University
On the front cover: A calendar frieze representing the Athenian manths, reused in the
Byzantine Church of the Little Metropolis in Athens. The cross is superimposed,
obliterating Taurus of the Zodiac. The choice of this frieze for hooks in Greek Studies:
interdisciplinary Approaches reflects this series’ emphasis on the blending of the diverse
heritages—Near Eastern, Classical, and Christian—in the Greek tradition. Drawing by
Laurie Kain Hart, based on a photograph. Recent titles in the series are:
The Transformation of Hera, A Study of Ritual, Hero, and the Goddess
in the Iliad, Joan V. O’Brien, Southern Illinois University
Hegemony and Greek Historians, John Wickersham, Ursinus College
The Scepter and the Spear: Studies on Forms of Repetition in the
Homeric Poems, Steven Lowenstam, University of Oregon
The Origins and Development of Ancient Greek Democracy, James L.
O'Neil, The University of Sydney
Heat and Lust; Hesiod's Midsummer Festival Scene Revisited, J. D. B.
Petropoulos, Democritean University of Thrace
The Pastoral Narcissus: A Study of the First Idyll of Theocritus, Clayton
Zimmerman, Carleton College
An Archaeology of Ancestors: Tomb Cult and Hero Cult in Early
Greece, Carla M. Antonaccio, Wesleyan University
The Seai of Orestes: Self-Reference and Authority in Sophocies' Electra,
Ann G. Batchelder, College of the Holy Cross
The Shield of Achilles and the Poetics of Ekphrasis, Andrew Sprague
Becker, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
The Blinded Eye: Thucydides and the New Written Word, Gregory
Crane, Tufts University
The Wrath of Athena: Gods and Men in the Odyssey, Jenny Strauss
Clay, University of Virginia
Talking Trojan: Speech and Community in the Wiad, Hilary Mackie, Rice
University
Poet and Audience in the Argonautica of Apollonius, Robert V. Albis,
The Hotchkiss School
Theatrical Space and Historical Place in Sophocies' Oedipus at
Colonus, Lowell Edmunds, Rutgers University
Poet and Audience in the
Argonautica of Apollonius
ROBERT V. ALBIS
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
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ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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Copyright © 1996 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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withaut the prior permission of the publisher.
British Cataloging in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Albis, Robert ¥.
Poet and audience in the Argonautica of Apollonius / Robert V. Albis.
Pp. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.} and index.
ISBN 0-84 76-83 15-X {cloth :alk. paper}, — ISBN 0-8476-8316-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Apollonius, Rhodius. Argonautica. 2. Epic poetry, Greek—History and criticism.
3. Argonauts (Greek mythology) in jiterature. 4. Jason (Greek mythology) in literature.
5, Medea (Greek mythology) in literature. 6. Authors and readers—Greece. 7. Reader-
response criticism. 1, Title.
PA3872.74A43 = 1996
8832. .01—dce20 96-23857
CIP
ISBN 0-8476-18 53—X (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8476-83 16-8 (pbk. ; alk. paper)
Printed in the United States of America
io
Θ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI 2439.48-1984.
To the memory of Francis Joseph Albis
omnis curae casusque levamen amitto
Aeneid 3.709-710

Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xi
Chapter 1 Apollonius, Inspiration, and the Performance of Epic 1
Chapter 2 The Poet's Ecstasy 17
Chapter 3 The Poet's Voyage 43
Chapter 4 Argonautica 3: A Triple Enchantment 67
Chapter 5 Argonautica 4: Ἢ Δολιχὴ Οἴμη 93
Chapter 6 Apollo’s Inspiration in Apollonius and Callimachus 121
Bibliography 133
General Index 143
Index Locorum 147
About the Author 155

Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches
Foreword
by Gregory Nagy, General Editor
Building on the foundations of scholarship within the disciplines of
philology, philosophy, history, and archaeology, this series spans the
continuum of Greek traditions extending from the second millennium
B.C.E. to the present, not just the Archaic and Classical periods. The
aim is to enhance perspectives by applying various disciplines to
problems that have in the past been treated as the exclusive concem of
a single given discipline. Besides the crossing-over of the older
disciplines, as in the case of historical and literary studies, the series
encourages the application of such newer ones as linguistics,
sociology, anthropology, and comparative literature. It also
encourages encounters with current trends in methodology, especially
in the realm of literary theory.
Poet and Audience in the Argonautica of Apollenius, by Robert V.
Albis, is a forceful reassessment of Apollonius of Rhodes, revealing
him as a vital continuator of both the Classical and Archaic poetic
traditions of ancient Greece. This view of Apollonius and his
Argonautica stands in sharp contrast to the stereotypical image of a
hopelessly derivative Hellenistic poet, whose highest artistic ambition
is realized by showing off his prodigious learning in bygone traditions
extracted from a poetic past that had long since disinherited the poets
of the present. The implications of the arguments advanced in Poet and
Audience extend from Apollonius to Hellenistic poetry in general:
Albis views the poetics of Apollonius and his contemporaries as a
dynamic reenactment of what they conceived to be the archetypal
essence of Greek poetic heritage writ large.
This book shows that allusion in Apollonius is far more than
playful cross-reference: it becomes a dead-serious act of com-
munication with the ideals of the poetic past. When Apollonius
alludes to Homer, he is evoking the archetypal image of the Singer of
x Foreword
Tales, as envisaged in those most striking figures of Homeric self-
reference, Phemios and Demodokos. Taking at his word the poet's
profession of his artistic mandate, Albis argues that the god Apollo is
viewed by his namesake Apollonius as a key to the entire poetic
undertaking of the Argonautica—as also to the quest of the Argonauts
who sail the Argo. To invoke Apollo in the Argenautica is no mere
literary convention: it is to activate the god of poetry, of prophecy, of
the mental orientation realized by the voyage of the Argo and
inaugurated by the cosmogonic song of the god’s very own mythical
singer, Orpheus. The invoked agency of Apollo is meant to create or
re-create the poetic continuum that links the archetypal Orpheus to
the contemporary Apollonius.
Poet and Audience in the Argonautica of Apollonius invokes in its own
right many insights that stem from comparative literary studies, most
notably narratology and theories of reader-response (or, better,
audience-response). But the basis for argumentation throughout the
book remains, ultimately, the poetic language and text of Apollonius.
What especially distinguishes the work of Albis is the cohesive
precision of his overall reading. Unlike most other readings of the
Argonautica of Apollonius, this book appreciates the poem as a unified
work of art.