• Gemination at the Horizons: East and West in the Mythical Geography of Archaic Greek Epic

    Author(s):
    Dimitri Nakassis (see profile)
    Date:
    2004
    Subject(s):
    Classical literature, Greek literature, Mythology
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Homer, travel, Hesiod, Classical Greek literature
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6TN7S
    Abstract:
    This paper examines descriptions of remote places in archaic Greek epic. I argue that Homeric cosmic geography consists of two complementary models, one in which the sun rises and sets at a single locus—the axis mundi—as in the Theogony, and another in which sunrise and sunset take place on the eastern and western horizons respectively. Conflation of these models in the Odyssey results in the gemination of peoples and places associated in myth with the sun. This not only explains some recurrent patterns in Homeric geography and their thematic importance to Odysseus’ travels, but also resolves some traditional interpretive difficulties with descriptions of the edges of the earth in archaic epic.
    Notes:
    http://www.jstor.org/stable/20054107
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Publisher:
    American Philological Association
    Pub. Date:
    2004
    Journal:
    Transactions of the American Philological Association
    Volume:
    134
    Issue:
    2
    Page Range:
    215 - 233
    ISSN:
    03605949
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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