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The tragic irony of a particle : Agamemnon’s νόστος and the use of που in the διάπειρα episode (Il., 2.136)

Journal Contribution - Journal Article

This article argues that the particle που in Agamemnon’s διάπειρα is not used as a logically superfluous “variable”, as is often the case in the Homeric poems, but as an attitudinal particle which is deliberately used to underline the tragic irony of Agamemnon’s reference to the Greeks’ wives sitting around at home waiting for their husbands to return. Whereas δή and καὶδή in the preceding lines mark the evi­dentiality of Agamemnon’s remark about the lapse of time and the sorry state of the ships, the use of που marks a certain uncertainty, real or feigned, about the situation at home to his audience, the assembled Greek army. For Homer, the use of που pro­vides a subtle way of reinforcing the tragic irony inherent in Agamemnon’s refer­ence to the wives of the Greeks, including his own wife Clytaemnestra. The particu­lar colometry of lines 136-137 is instrumental to Homer’s highlighting of the most salient words to drive his dramatically ironicmessage home to his own audience: που,ἡμέτεραιand ποτιδέγμεναι.
Journal: ETUDES CLASSIQUES
ISSN: 0014-200X
Issue: 1-4
Volume: 89
Pages: 133 - 141
Publication year:2021
Accessibility:Open