Articles

Marks, J. The Ongoing Neikos: Thersites, Odysseus, and Achilleus

Abstract: Comparison of the Iliadic Thersites with his character in non-Homeric traditions, the iambic personas Archilochos and Hipponax, the disguised Odysseus in the Odyssey, Karna in the Maha-bha-rata, and with sociological models suggests that his ongoing neikos ("conflict") with Odysseus and Achilleus (neikeieske, Iliad 2.221) is constructed as one between social equals, and so can be described in terms of elite competition, in contrast with the common interpretation of the scene as class conflict. The elite competition model offers fresh perspectives on class relations in Homeric society and can help to explicate the opposition between the heroics of Odysseus and of Achilleus and help to delineate the thematics of the fragmentary Aithiopis.

Simms, R. Clinton. The Missing Bones of Thersites: A Note on Iliad 2.212-19

Abstract: There is a notable correspondence between the description of Thersites at Iliad 2.212-19 and the physical characteristics of cleidocranial dysplasia, a rare genetic bone condition. Prominent features of the condition include bossing of the skull, missing clavicles that allow approximation of the shoulders over the chest, and dental abnormalities, most commonly supernumerary and irregularly patterned teeth. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the likely pun Homer intended on Thersites' teeth through the description of his abundant and disordered words.

Chiasson, Charles C. Myth, Ritual, and Authorial Control in Herodotus' Story of Cleobis and Biton (Hist. 1.31)

Abstract: I argue that Herodotus consciously and cunningly incorporates elements of myth and initiatory ritual into his story of Cleobis and Biton. The brothers' "blessed" death takes place in the context of an Argive initiatory festival, at the unintentional bidding of their mother, who thus embodies the link between maternity and mortality attested in early Greek hexameter poetry. The posthumous dedication by their fellow citizens of statues of the brothers at Delphi signifies both an honorary initiation into the class of adult male warriors and a mitigation of mortality (another fundamental concern of early Greek myth).

Carney, Elizabeth Donnelly, 1947- Women and Dunasteia in Caria

Abstract: This article considers the role of Hecatomnid women in the public presentation of the dynasty. It examines the rule and co-rule of women in Caria, the reasons for the dynasty's practice of sibling marriage, the dynasty's apparent indifference to the creation of heirs, and the impact of the role of Hecatomnid women on the Hellenistic dynasties. It argues that the position of women in the Hecatomnid dynasty was a function of a family dynamic and image shaped by the precarious nature of rule in the region, particularly by the dynasty's subordination to its Persian overlords.

Faber, Riemer.

Abstract: In the final stanza of Odes 3.1, Horace reverts to themes broached in the programmatic opening lines, qualifying them in light of the intervening lyric argument. By means of associations with literary aesthetics in the question cur valle permutem Sabina divitias operosiores (47-48), and by allusions to the proem of Vergil Georgics 3 and to Pindar Olympian 6.1-4 in invidendis postibus et novo sublime ritu moli aratrium (45-46), Horace develops a literary metaphor in order to express his discomfort in treating national and political themes in the lyric genre.

Asirvatham, Sulochana Ruth, 1970- Classicism and Romanitas in Plutarch's De Alexandri Fortuna Aut Virtute

Abstract: It is in the very nature of classicizing texts to promote an idea of the "Greek" as objective and unchanging over the centuries. Using the example of Plutarch's DeAlexandri Fortunaaut Virtute, a set of epideictic speeches in which Alexander the Great appears as a philosopher who civilizes barbarians, this paper attempts to look beneath the pro-Hellenic veneer of imperial Greek writing by considering ways in which it can mask a sympathy with "Roman" ideas—that is, ideas that are typically by this time either credited to Romans (whether or not originally inspired by Greek ideas) or used to describe Romans in non-classicizing contexts.

English, Mary. Aristophanes' Frogs: Brek-kek-kek-kek! on Broadway

Book Reviews

Boedeker, Deborah Dickmann. Hesiod's Cosmos (review)

Buell, Denise Kimber, 1965- The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity (review)

Gleason, Maud W., 1954- Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome (review)

Rutledge, Steven H., 1963- The History of Make-Believe: Tacitus on Imperial Rome (review)

Books Received