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Aeschylus fr. 117, Ajax’s suicide, and the genre of Thracian Women
No full textLa prima parte dello studio mette in discussione l’attribuzione del fr. 117 di Eschilo, αὐτορέγμονος πότμου, alle Cretesi (Κρῆσσαι) e lo assegna alle Tracie (Θρῇσσαι), come riferimento al “fato suicida” di Aiace: ricerche a tappeto sul corpus vengono impiegate per illustrare la formazione di αὐτορέγμων (da αὐτός e ῥέζω, non ὀρέγω), il significato di αὐτο- e la sfumatura di πότμος. La seconda parte ridiscute i frammenti delle Tracie e ne riafferma il genere tragico, rispondendo a un recente tentativo di farne un dramma satiresco.The first part of the study challenges the attribution of Aeschylus fr. 117 αὐτορέγμονος πότμου to Cretan Women (Κρῆσσαι) and assigns it to Thracian Women (Θρῇσσαι) as a reference to Ajax’s “suicidal fate”: corpus-based investigations are deployed to explain the formation of αὐτορέγμων (from αὐτός and ῥέζω, not ὀρέγω), the meaning of αὐτο- and the nuance of πότμος. The second part reassesses the fragments of Thracian Women and restates its tragic genre, responding to a recent attempt to make it a satyr-play
Aeschylus fr. 486 Radt, tragic homerisms, and ancient scholarship on Sophocles
No full textThe paper contends that the gloss μενοινᾷ... ὀρέγεται attributed to Aeschylus (fr. 486) by Schol. M Od. 13.381 actually refers to Sophocles Ajax 341, as once suggested by Ludwich. The gloss was probably meant to explain μενοινᾷ by means o fὀρέξατο (Il. 6.466) and may be another relic of a broader comparison between S. Aj. 333-595 and Il. 6.369-502 attested in the scholia vetera to Sophocles
Toante e il Coro: Nota a Eur. IT 1490-1
Get PDFThe final words of Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris are vexed by several difficulties concerning the distribution of lines to speakers. In IT 1490-1, the problem affects the general interpretation of the ending, which seems to suggest clearly that the Chorus survives and returns to Greece. If 1490-1 are delivered by the Chorus, as Seidler suggests, it is to be assumed that the Greek women are not allowed to go back home with Iphigenia, Orestes and Pylades: this explicit does not square with the evidence of the drama as a whole. The restoration of L's attribution of the lines to Athena (Kovacs) would fit well with the ultimate destiny of the Chorus, yet it raises the problem of admitting an unparalleled metrical transition from trimeters to anapaests by the same speaker; moreover, it creates an awkward repetition and reduplication of the content of 1487-9. The attribution to Thoas, who is in any case unable to leave until 1489, solves the problem and gives a better sense to 1490-1: Thoas is here urging the Chorus to leave the stage and sail towards Greece, trusting Athena's recent deliberations. The mistake of attribution in L may reflect an original distribution in which changes of speaker were marked at 1486 (or 1487), 1490 and 1492
Recensione di Marco Ercoles, Stesicoro: le testimonianze antiche, Bologna, Pàtron Editore, 2013; pp. 774; ISBN 978-88-555-3250-1; € 68,00
No full textEvils full of atē: Sophocles, Antigone 1–6
Get PDFThe article proposes two solutions for the textually controversial incipit of Sophocles' Antigone. In line 4, the corrupt οὔτ’ ἄτης ἄτερ can be emended to οὔτ’ ἄτης πλέων, an almost forgotten correction once tentatively proposed by Campbell. In lines 2–3, the syntax of Antigone’s question appears sound. Firstly, ὁποῖον οὐχὶ νῷν ἔτι ζώσαιν τελεῖ; in line 3 is a question governed by ἆρ’ οἶσθ’, with subject understood (Ζεὺς). Secondly, ὅ τι Ζεὺς τῶν ἀπ’ Οἰδίπου κακῶν in line 2 is a pre-posed topicalized clause, with verb understood (τελεῖ or ἐστί), offering the background information from which the ὁποῖον-question takes its cue
Sophocles Electra 1050–57 and the pragmatics of tragic exits
Get PDFThis article argues for the authenticity of Sophocles Electra 1050–54, deleted in Lloyd-Jones and Wilson’s and Finglass’ editions. After a refutation of scholars’ earlier objections (including Stobaeus’ misleading attribution of 1050–51 to Sophocles’ Phaedra), two substantive arguments are advanced in favor of their retention: (1) in terms of scenic grammar, if 1050–54 were removed, Chrysothemis’ exit would be ineptly unnoticed, in contradiction with Sophocles’ usual handling of exits; (2) in terms of conversation analysis, 1050–54 replicate a pre-patterned sequence ubiquitously found in tragedy to terminate rapid dialogues when exits are involved, whereas their absence would make the closing unjustifiably abrupt
Review of FINGLASS (P.J.) Ed. Sophocles. Ajax: Edited with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries 48). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Pp. x + 612. £110/ $180. 9781107003071.
No full textAjax behind the skēnē : staging, address and word order at Sophocles, Ajax 339-343
No full textThis paper discusses problems of staging, address and word order in Greek tragedy to shed light on a controversial passage in Sophocles: Aj. 339-343. Ajax’s cry within, ἰὼ παῖ παῖ (339), has been alternatively taken to refer to Eurysaces (as suggested by Tecmessa) or to Teucer (whom Ajax mentions at 342-343). The paper argues for Teucer and responds to three arguments against this view: (1) παῖ is not only acceptable, but also effective to address one’s sibling; (2) the word order of 342, Τεῦκρον καλῶ, strictly implies ‘It’s Teucer I’m calling’ (not just: ‘I call on Teucer’), hence it cannot mark the move to a new addressee; (3) it is hardly possible for Ajax not to hear Tecmessa’s 340-341: short interactions across the skēnē door may occur, and the parallel scene at Euripides, Medea 1270a-1278 suggests that Ajax most likely hears Tecmessa’s words and corrects her wrong guess
Off-record politeness in Sophocles: The patterned dialogues of female characters
Get PDFThis paper tests the applicability of Brown and Levinson’s concept of off-record politeness on a specific sub-set of patterned dialogues in Sophocles’ extant tragedies, i.e., those involving the participation of female speakers. Brown and Levinson’s framework still provides the most suitable model for empirical analysis, but with refinements concerning the interrelation between emic and etic politeness, the notion of face, the extension of analysis to longer stretches of conversation, and the absolute ranking of the super-strategies. The survey suggests that a strict connection between the use of off record and the mitigation of FTAs can be established quite straightforwardly and that the hearer’s reactions to off record can help to identify the valid instances of the phenomenon. Moreover, it is argued that (a) female speakers frequently resort to off record, most notably in cross-sex interactions with men invested with high power; (b) few restricted categories of male speakers, i.e., strangers and lower-status characters, do use off-record politeness towards women; (c) off record in same-sex interactions among female characters is limited to when the imposition is of extraordinary seriousness
Another Companion to Sophocles. MARKANTONATOS (A.) (ed.) Brill’s Companion to Sophocles. Pp. xxii + 737, ills. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2012. Cased, E180, US$247. ISBN: 978-90-04-18492-3.
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