The Odysseus Gene: A Case of Reverse-Genealogical Characterization in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (11.312–315, 344–345)

Year 2023, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, 171 - 187, 30.12.2023

Brian Mcphee

Abstract

This paper identifies a new instance of “reverse-genealogical characterization”—a literary technique whereby a well-known character’s distinctive traits are projected back onto their ancestor—in the Daedalion episode of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (11.289–345). It has widely been recognized that the episode’s sketch of the figure of Autolycus (312–315) alludes to some of the defining characteristics of that trickster’s grandson Ulysses, but I contend that Ovid’s depiction of Autolycus’ own grandfather Daedalion extends this process of genealogical foreshadowing back two generations further. In particular, I argue that the reciprocal pain and injury that typify Daedalion’s post-metamorphosis existence (aliisque dolens fit causa dolendi, 345) alludes to the Homeric etymology of “Odysseus” from ὀδυσσάμενος, as expounded by Autolycus himself in the Odyssey (19.407). The reverse-genealogical characterization of Autolycus and Daedalion jointly delineate Ulysses’ essential character and particularly highlight traits that undermine his sophistic self-presentation in the Judgment of Arms in Metamorphoses 13.

Keywords

Epic genealogy, Odysseus/Ulysses, Autolycus, Daedalion, the name of Odysseus, etymological allusion

Odysseus’un Soyu: Ovidius’un Metamorphoses’inde (11.312–315, 344–345) Tersine-Şecere Karakterizasyonu

Abstract

Bu makalede, Ovidius’un Metamorphoses eserinin Daedalion bölümünde (11.289-345) yer alan yeni bir “tersine-şecere karakterizasyonu” örneğini tanımlamaktadır. Bu, ünlü bir karakterin ayırt edici özelliklerinin atalarına yönelik yansıtılması anlamına gelen yazınsal bir tekniktir. Çoğu zaman, Epizodun Autolycus (312-315) karakterini tasvir ederken onun düzenbaz olan torunu Ulysses’in şahsına münhasır özelliklerine gönderme yapılmasıyla bilinmektedir, fakat Ovidius’un, Autolycus’un büyükbabası Daedalion’u tasvir ederken bu jeneolojik kehanet sürecini 2 nesil önceye taşıdığını bu metinde iddia edilecektir. Özellikle de Daedalion’un dönüşüm-sonrası durumunu niteleyen ıstırap ve yaralanmanın (aliisque dolens fit causa dolendi, 345), Odysseia’da bizzat Autolycus tarafından açıklandığı üzere, ὀδυσσάμενος’tan gelen Odysseus’un Homerik etimolojisine ima yapıldığını tartışacağım. Autolycus ve Daedalion’un tersine-şecere karakterizasyonu Ulysses’in esas karakterini bir arada betimlemekle birlikte, bilhassa Metamorphoses 13’de yer alan Silahların Hükmü’nde kendisinin sofistçe benlik tasvirini zayıflatan özellikleri vurgulamaktadır.

Keywords

Destansı soyağacı, Odysseus/Ulysses, Autolycus, Daedalion, Odysseus’un ismi, etimolojik gönderme

References

• Anderson, W. S. (2008). P. Ovidius Naso. Metamorphoses. 2nd ed. Teubner.
• Ardizzoni, A. (1967). Le Argonautiche: Libro I. Ateneo.
• Arias Abellán, C. (1984). Albus-candidus, ater-niger and ruber-rutilus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses: A structural research. Latomus 43: 111–117.
• Austin, N. (1972). Name magic in the Odyssey. California Studies in Classical Antiquity 5: 1–19.
• Barbanera, M. (2013). The envy of Daedalus. Essay on the artist as murderer. Wilhelm Fink.
• Barchiesi, A. (1993). Future reflexive: Two modes of allusion and Ovid’s Heroides. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 95: 333–365.
• Barchiesi, A., & G. Rosati. 2009. Ovidio. Metamorfosi. vol. 2. 2nd ed. Fondazione Lorenzo Valla.
• Barnes, W. R. (1981). The Trojan War in Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica. Hermes 109.3: 360–370.
• Barolsky, P. (2003). Ovid’s colors. Arion 10.3: 51–56.
• Bömer, F. (1980). P. Ovidius Naso. Metamorphosen: Buch X–XI. vol. 5. Carl Winter.
• Campbell, M. (1981). Ap. Rhod. 1.74–76. Giornale italiano di filologia 33: 207–208.
• Casali, S. (2010). The development of the Aeneas legend. A companion to Vergil’s Aeneid and its tradition. ed. J. Farrell & M. C. J. Putnam. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Clay, J. S. (1983). The wrath of Athena: Gods and men in the Odyssey. Princeton University Press.
• Cole, T. (2004). Ovid, Varro, and Castor of Rhodes: The chronological architecture of the Metamorphoses. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 102: 355–422.
• Cook, E. (2009). “Active” and “passive” heroics in the Odyssey. Classical World 93.2: 149–167.
• Courtney, E. (1980). A commentary on the Satires of Juvenal. Athlone.
• Davies, G. A. T. (1907). P. Ovidi Nasonis Metamorphoseon Liber XI. Clarendon.
• Detienne, M., & J. P. Vernant. (1991). Cunning intelligence in Greek culture and society. trans. J. Lloyd. University of Chicago Press.
• Dimock, G. E., Jr. (1956). The name of Odysseus. Hudson Review 9.1: 52–70.
• Dyson, J. T. (1999). Lilies and violence: Lavinia’s blush in the song of Orpheus. Classical Philology 94.3: 281–288. Fowler, R. L. (2013). Early Greek mythography. vol. 2. Oxford University Press.
• Fucecchi, M. (2006). Una guerra in Colchide: Valerio Flacco, Argonautiche 6, 1–426. ETS.
• Galinsky, G. K. (1975). Ovid’s Metamorphoses: An introduction to the basic aspects. University of California Press.
• Gantz, T. (1993). Early Greek myth: A guide to literary and artistic sources. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Goldhill, S. (2020). Preposterous poetics: The politics and aesthetics of form in late antiquity. Cambridge University Press.
• Gonnelli, F. (2003). Nonno di Panopoli: Le Dionisiache. vol. 2. BUR.
• Griffin, A. H. F. (1997). A commentary on Ovid Metamorphoses Book XI. Hermathena 162–163: 1–290.
• Gross, N. P. (2000). Allusion and rhetorical wit in Ovid, Metamorphoses 13. Scholia 9: 54–65.
• Hardie, P. (2015). Ovidio. Metamorfosi. vol. 6. trans. G. Chiarini. Fondazione Lorenzo Valla.
• Hopkinson, N. (2000). Ovid. Metamorphoses Book XIII. Cambridge University Press.
• Harder, A. (2019). Sons and fathers in the catalogue of Argonauts in Apollonius’ Argonautica 1.23–233. Eugesta 9: 1–25.
• Hunter, R. (1993). The Argonautica of Apollonius: Literary studies. Cambridge University Press.
• Janan, M. (1988). The book of good love? Design versus desire in Metamorphoses 10. Ramus 17: 110–137.
• Kahn, L. (1978). Hermès passe ou les ambiguïtés de la communication. Maspero.
• Kaufhold, S. D. (1993). The reification of figurative language in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Diss. Cornell.
• Kenney, E. J. (2002). Ovid’s language and style. Brill’s Companion to Ovid. ed. B. Weiden Boyd. Brill. 27–89.
• Köhnken, A. (1976). Die Narbe des Odysseus: Ein Beitrag zur homerisch-epischen Erzähltechnik. A&A 22.2: 101–114.
• Köhnken, A.(2005). Der Argonaut Euphemos. Beginning from Apollo: Studies in Apollonius Rhodius and the Argonautic tradition. Ed. A. Harder and M. Cuypers. Peeters. 70–75.
• Kyriakidis, S. (2021). Looking backwards to posterity: Catalogues of ancestry from Homer to Ovid. Lists and catalogues in ancient literature and beyond: Towards a poetics of enumeration. Ed. R. Laemmle, C. Scheidegger Laemmle, & K. Wesselmann. De Gruyter. 245–280.
• Leach, E. W. (1974). Ekphrasis and the theme of artistic failure in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Ramus 3: 102–142.
• López-Cañete, D. (2016). Ovidius ὀδυσσάμενος: Al hilo de Trist. 3, 11, 59–66. Fronteras entre el verso y la prosa en la literatura helenística y helenístico-romana. Homenaje al Prof. José Guillermo Montes Cala. Edd. J. Guillermo Montes Cala et al. Levante. 447–455.
• Malten, L. (1923–1924). Leichenspiel und Totenkult. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (Röm. Abt.) 38–39: 300–340.
• McPhee, B. D. (2020). Blessed heroes: Apollonius’ Argonautica and the Homeric Hymns. Diss. North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Michalopoulos, A. (2001). Ancient etymologies in Ovid’s Metamorphoses: A commented lexicon. Francis Cairns. Murphy, G. M. H. (1972). Ovid. Metamorphoses Book XI. Oxford University Press.
• Murray, A. T. (1995). Homer. Odyssey. 2 vol. rev. G. E. Dimock. Harvard University Press.
• Murray, A. T. (1999). Homer. Iliad. 2 vol. rev. W. F. Wyatt. Harvard University Press.
• Myers, K. S. (1994). Ovid’s causes: Cosmogony and aetiology in the Metamorphoses. University of Michigan Press.
• O’Hara, J. J. (2017). True names: Vergil and the Alexandrian tradition of etymological wordplay. 2nd ed. University of Michigan Press.
• Page, D. (1955). The Homeric Odyssey. Clarendon.
• Pavlock, B. (2009a). The image of the poet in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. University of Wisconsin Press.
• Pavlock, B. (2009b). Ulysses’ wounds in the contest over the arms of Achilles. Classical World 102.2: 178–181.
• Peradotto, J. (1990). Man in the middle voice: Name and narration in the Odyssey. Princeton University Press.
• Pucci, P. (1987). Odysseus Polutropos: Intertextual readings in the Odyssey and the Iliad. Cornell University Press.
• Rank, L. P. (1951). Etymologiseering en verwante verschijnselen bij Homerus. Van Gorcum.
• Reed, J. D. (2013). Ovidio. Metamorfosi. vol. 5. Fondazione Lorenzo Valla.
• Rouse, W. H. D., with H. J. Rose & L. R. Lind. 1940. Nonnos. Dionysiaca. 3 vol. Harvard University Press.
• Rudd, N. (2008). Ceyx and Alcyone: Ovid, Metamorphoses 11, 410–748. Greece and Rome 55.1: 103–110.
• Russo, J. Fernández-Galiano, M., & A. Heubeck. (1992). A Commentary on Homer’s Odyssey. vol. 3. Clarendon.
• Scherer, C. (1886–1890). Hermes. Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie. ed. W. H. Roscher. vol. 1.2: 2342–2432.
• Schollmeyer, J. (2017). Genealogie als intertextuelles Spiel: Zur Charakterisierung Admets im Katalog der Argonauten bei Apollonios Rhodios (1,49 f.). Philologus 161.1: 35–46.
• Sharrock, A. (1991). The love of creation. Ramus 20: 169–182.
• Solodow, J. B. (1988). The world of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. University of North Carolina Press.
• Spaltenstein, F. (2005). Commentaire des Argonautica de Valérius Flaccus (livres 6, 7 et 8). Latomus.
• Thalmann, W. G. (1984). Conventions of form and thought in early Greek epic poetry. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Vian, F. (1987). Les Argonautiques Orphiques. Les Belles Lettres.
• Viarre, S. (1968). Pygmalion et Orphée chez Ovide (Met., X, 243–297).” REL 46: 235–247.
• Wellauer, A. (1828). Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica. 2 vol. Teubner.
• Wijsman, H. J. W. (2000). Valerius Flaccus. Argonautica, Book VI: A commentary. Brill.
• Wills, J. (1996). Repetition in Latin poetry: Figures of allusion. Clarendon.
• Wüst, E. (1937). Oiagros (1). Real-Encyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft. ed. A. Pauly, G. Wissowa, & W. Kroll. vol. 17.2: 2082–2085.
• Zissos, A. (1999). The rape of Proserpina in Ovid Met. 5.341–661: Internal audience and narrative distortion. Phoenix 53.1/2: 97–113.
• Zuenelli, S. M. (2010). Warum Ὀδυσσεύς « Ὀδυσσεύς » heisst: Zur Funktion der etymologischen Erklärung des Namens in Od. 19, 406–409. Rivista di filologia e di istruzione classica 138.1–2: 5–13.