Abstract
When reading Aristophanes’ comedies, we find many epithets that, because of their formation and meaning, bear resemblance to those that are characteristic of the epic language. In our opinion, this fact proves the relevance of epic in the time of Aristophanes and the ease of the public being able to grasp the allusions made to that genre, which allows the playwright to bring about their laughter at its expense. When analyzing these apparent epicisms, we find that some of them are indeed traditional and are used in the epic poetry and, occasionally, in the lyric and dramatic poetry previous to or contemporaneous with Aristophanes; others can be labelled as Aristophanic epicisms because they are only found in late epic or are totally or partially absent in other writers; finally, some of them are only apparent epicisms, since they are not used in epic but in lyric, especially in hymnic poetry.
Highlights
When reading Aristophanes’ comedies, we find many epithets that, because of their formation and meaning, bear resemblance to those that are cha racteristic of the epic language
This fact proves the relevance of epic in the time of Aristophanes and the ease of the public being able to grasp the allusions made to that genre, which allows the playwright to bring about their laughter at its expense
When analyzing these apparent epicisms, we find that some of them are traditional and are used in the epic poetry and, occasionally, in the lyric and dramatic poetry previous to or contemporaneous with Aristophanes; others can be labelled as Aristophanic epicisms because they are only found in late epic or are totally or partially absent in other writers; some of them are only apparent epicisms, since they are not used in epic but in lyric, especially in hymnic poetry
Summary
Analizaremos en este grupo los adjetivos que tienen presencia ya en los poemas homéricos y de otros épicos antiguos y también —aunque el hecho es poco frecuente— en los poetas de los siglos VIII-V a. 405) e Il. XIX 538, referido a los buitres y, como en Aristófanes, al águila; la épica tardía no utiliza el epíteto ni tampoco lo hace ningún autor entre los siglos VIII-V. Además, el único testigo de un empleo épico antiguo, ya que el epíteto no es utilizado por ningún autor entre los siglos VIII y V a. Este ejemplo es un buen exponente, a nuestro entender, de la utilización con fines cómicos de los términos de la épica antigua: seguramente, al oír cualquiera de esas palabras, el espíritu del público se trasladaba al ambiente y a las expresiones típicas de ese género, pero la comicidad consiste, en este. Reduciendo el análisis a ἑπταβοείους, encontramos que se trata de un epíteto épico con representación tanto en la épica antigua (Il. VII 220, 222, 245, 266, XI 545) como en la postclásica Aristófanes es solo uno más de los que lo emplean
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