Journal article
Against Penelope: An Invective Theme from Hellenistic Greece
The Classical world, Vol.113(1), pp.53-63
2019
DOI: 10.1353/clw.2019.0077
Abstract
In the course of criticizing his predecessor Timaeus, Polybius mentions a paradoxical invective exercise against Penelope. No such exercise survives from antiquity. A review of rhetorical handbook instructions, encomia and invectives of Homeric characters, and ancient traditions about Penelope suggests that this assignment would have been challenging but not impossible for intermediate students of rhetoric. Since little is known about Penelope's life outside of the Odyssey, students would have searched for passages in the epic that could be taken out of context or otherwise distorted in order to disparage one of the most praiseworthy women in Greek literature.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Against Penelope: An Invective Theme from Hellenistic Greece
- Creators
- Craig A Gibson
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The Classical world, Vol.113(1), pp.53-63
- Publisher
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- DOI
- 10.1353/clw.2019.0077
- ISSN
- 0009-8418
- eISSN
- 1558-9234
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2019
- Academic Unit
- Classics
- Record Identifier
- 9984185973302771
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