The Classical Quarterly (New Series)

Table of Contents - 1988 - Volume 38, Issue 01  

Research Article

Ajax's Entry in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women*

Margalit Finkelberga1

a1 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The list of Helen's suitors in the Catalogue of Women, a late epic poem attributed to Hesiod, is directly related to the Catalogue of Ships in Iliad 2, in that it is in fact a list of future participants in the Trojan war. That the two catalogues treat the same traditional material is demonstrated above all by their agreement on minor personages: not only the protagonists of the Trojan saga, but also such obscure figures as Podarces of Phylace, Elephenor of Euboea, Thoas of Aetolia, or Menestheus of Athens feature in both Homer and Hesiod, and are characterized by basically the same traditional expressions. But, though the Hesiodic catalogue is sometimes used as evidence that a given Homeric personage belongs to the authentic tradition,3 it seems that the exegetic potential of this poem has not yet been exploited in full. As I hope to show, the Catalogue of Women throws light on one of the most controversial issues in Homeric scholarship, that of the representation of Athens and Salamis in the Catalogue of Ships.

Footnotes

* An earlier version of this paper was read at the faculty seminar of the Hebrew University's Classics Department; my thanks are due to the participants in that seminar for their helpful comments and discussion. I would also like to thank the anonymous reader of this journal and the Editor for some valuable suggestions.