The Alexandra of Lycophron: A Literary Study
Charles McNelis and Alexander Sens
Abstract
The obscurity of Lycophron’s Alexandra was already notorious in antiquity and has long hampered a holistic approach to the poem. Through a series of distinct but closely integrated literary studies of major aspects of the work, including its style, its engagement with the traditions of epic and tragedy, and its treatment of heroism and of the gods, the book explores the way the Alexandra reconfigures Greek mythology, particularly as presented in Homeric epic and Athenian tragedy, in order to cast the Romans and their restoration of Trojan glory as the ultimate telos of history. In this sense, ... More
The obscurity of Lycophron’s Alexandra was already notorious in antiquity and has long hampered a holistic approach to the poem. Through a series of distinct but closely integrated literary studies of major aspects of the work, including its style, its engagement with the traditions of epic and tragedy, and its treatment of heroism and of the gods, the book explores the way the Alexandra reconfigures Greek mythology, particularly as presented in Homeric epic and Athenian tragedy, in order to cast the Romans and their restoration of Trojan glory as the ultimate telos of history. In this sense, the poem emerges as an important intermediary between Homeric epic and Latin poetry, particularly Vergil’s Aeneid. By rewriting specific features of the epic and tragic traditions, the Alexandra denies to Greek heroes the glory that was the traditional compensation for their suffering, while at the same time attributing to Cassandra’s Trojan family honors framed in the traditional language of Greek heroism. In this sense, the figure of Cassandra, a prophetess traditionally gifted with the power of foresight but denied credibility, self-reflexively serves as a vehicle for exploring the potentials and limitations of poetry.
Keywords:
Lycophron,
Greek mythology,
Cassandra,
heroism,
epic,
tragedy,
Roman,
Trojan
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199601899 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199601899.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Charles McNelis, author
Associate Professor of Classics, Georgetown University
Alexander Sens, author
Markos and Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis Chair of Hellenic Studies, Georgetown University
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