In Xenophon’s Oeconomicus Ischomachus instructs his wife in the management of their household. The detailed account of this subject which emerges has no parallel in Greek literature. Textile production is an important aspect of this household’s implicit self-sufficiency, which in this respect is still Homeric. Ischomachus’ division of his and his wife’s spheres of activity between outdoors and indoors also corresponds to Hector’s admonition to Andromache in the Iliad (6.490-93). There is a fundamental dissymmetry between Ischomachus and his wife. His rationale for the division of labor between men and women reappears in another form in Aristotle’s account of the origin of the polis in the Politics.

Hesiod is fond of interpreting names of gods etymologically. The present article is dedicated to a previously overlooked example of this phenomenon. It postulates that the prominence of the adverb ῥέα / ῥεῖα (‘easily’) in OD 5-7 alludes to the name of Zeus’ mother Rhea and presents arguments in support of this thesis.

This article deals with the three latin hexameter hymns in the Appendix Claudianea, especially the Hymn to Mars (Laus Martis). It attempts to show that the short poem functions essentially through an intertextual allusion to a contemporary epyllion, Reposianus’ De concubitu Martis et Veneris, which gives it a playful, learned, and ironic quality. Thus, it seems rather unlikely that the hymn has roots in religious cult, as has recently been proposed. These and other observations allow us to contextualise the poem more precisely in the history of late antique literature: There are indications that it belongs to the poetic tradition of Roman/Vandal North Africa.

Aristid. 47,48 has been variously corrected and interpreted by Dindorf, Keil and later editors. After careful reevaluation of the passage, it is proposed to print the text as transmitted by A (Laur. Plut. 60.3) but placing πῶς τί; in quotation marks: the expression – examined in detail in the paper – is attested in late Plato and is identifiable as a sort of colloquial superlative form. This ‘popular’ form of superlative, widely documented in Greek (cf. νῦν ἔναγχος, νῦν ἄρτι, ἄρτι νυνί and the like), consists of juxtaposing two different but related-meaning words, which merge, so to speak, into a semantic unicum with enhanced meaning.

This article investigates the potential influence of Draco’s homicide laws on Plato’s Phaedo (113d-114c). Athenian law gave the family of the victim or the φράτορες the choice of pardoning the killer through the process of αἴδεσις, but only if everyone unanimously agreed on the pardon. In Phaedo the transcendent trial of the soul is organised in a similar manner. Those who committed homicide in the heat of passion and immediately repented for their action are punished to reside for one year in the rivers of the underworld. After that one year elapses, if the victim(s) agree on pardoning the killer, the latter is absolved. By employing this close similarity to the process of αἴδεσις and the use of seemingly forensic vocabulary in the passage (ἀνδροφόνος, δικασταί, ἐκβάλλω and δεσμωτήριον) Plato creates a veiled image of 5th-4th century Athens. Finally, relevant evidence in Plato’s Laws 865a-874b makes clear that Plato considered homicides committed in passion and followed by repentance more akin to involuntary rather than voluntary homicides, further showing the influence of Draco’s homicide law.

The paper discusses a corrupt passage in the work De compendiosa doctrina by Nonius Marcellus. It is examined whether this passage contains a fragment of Latin literature that has not yet been edited. By considering the context of transmission, the metre and the content, as well as the application of the lex Lindsay to the Nonius passage, I come to the conclusion that it is most likely that the fragment belongs to books 28-29 of Lucilius’ Satires.

Cassiodorus’ information about the chronicle of Marcellinus has not yet been subjected to proper analysis, and all the previous work on the passage was based on a Latin text containing an emendation unsupported by the manuscript evidence. Additionally, the only specialized analysis by Brian Croke is flawed because he believes Cassiodorus is talking about two versions of the chronicle. This article argues that, according to Cassiodorus, the chronicle was written under Emperor Justinian.

The following article is devoted to sixteen iambic senarii ascribed to Publilius which Petronius’ Trimalchio quotes at his banquet. I present the quotation in its context, discuss its treatment in previous research and develop my own thesis, arguing that this quote is neither a continuous passage from a mimus by Publilius nor an instance of Petronius’ own poetry. Rather, I argue that Trimalchio strings together five different passages from Publilius to form a short anthology about luxury. Reception of Publilius in a comparable anthological form can also be found elsewhere in the early imperial period, particularly in the work of the philosopher Seneca. Finally, I discuss the function of such anthological quoting, claiming that it serves the self-characterization of the figure Trimalchio and provides the author Petronius with the opportunity to parodistically take up the contemporary use of Publilius in Seneca. In doing so, Petronius acts in the manner of a cento-poet, using Trimalchio as his mouthpiece.

This article aims to show that the comment on the noses of the clouds in Arist. Nub. 343-344, which has been controversial since antiquity, is a deliberate pun. Furthermore, it is shown that this single joke fits neatly into the overall comic structure of the Parodos and ultimately, as this entire first part of the comedy significantly points towards the no less contentious ending of the drama, for which a coherent solution is offered.