Orpheus the Epic Poet: Reading the Argonautika by Orpheus in the tradition of Homer and Apollonios Rhodios

Abstract

The Argonautika by Orpheus , a late antique epic poem by an anonymous author, has until now received little scholarly attention. This investigation studies the work as an epic poem, with particular attention to the anonymous poet's relation with his main literary models, Homer and Apollonius of Rhodes. It argues that an interpretation of the Argonautika by Orpheus must take into account the fact that the author assumes the identity of the poem's narrator and main character Orpheus; by this, he implies that his work is the first epic poem, and source of inspiration to Homer and Apollonius. This thesis first discusses the credibility of this poetic fiction through detailed case-studies of elements of the poem's language. It shows that the author is concerned with making his implicit claim plausible by incorporating many features of Homer's distinctive archaic style. This study also views the poem from another perspective, as a late work which imitates and adapts the traditional diction of Homer, mingling it with elements of more contemporary language, thus creating a late antique epic of a unique quality. Furthermore, it analyses how the anonymous author's poetic fiction suggests that the Iliad and Odyssey are sequels to his own poem, and the Hellenistic Argonautika a re-writing of it. It outlines how he employs archaic themes and motifs in his re-interpretation of the Argonautika to achieve this purpose, and draws parallels between the Argonautika by Orpheus and the imperial and late antique literary trend of Homeric revisionism, which sought to oppose Homer's account with a more authoritative one. This study also proposes a metapoetic reading of certain passages in the Argonautika by Orpheus , as a competition of the anonymous poet against Homer.