HELLENISTIC ARMING IN THEBATRACHOMYOMACHIA

Abstract

Scholarship has long argued that theBatrachomyomachia(BM) is to be dated to the Hellenistic period or later, but the question of its literary affiliations in this context has only recently been addressed. Usually considered an example of παρωιδία, the poem is a unique example of that genre in several respects, including the extent to which it develops its own formularity rather than merely mirroring the Homeric exemplar with minimal change, and the fact that it was passed off as the work of Homer himself instead of being self-consciously distanced from the parodied author. It is therefore fitting that theBMis also unusual for ancient parody in dealing with the scholarly discourse surrounding its primary exemplar. This note offers, as an(other) example of this tendency, theBM's engagement with the Homeric arming scene, and its reception in Hellenistic poetry and scholarship.