From Achilles to Theagenes and vice–versa: Epideictic topics and commonplace in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica and beyond
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14409/op.2023.1.e0005Keywords:
Achilles, Teagenes, Heliodorus, commonplace, physiognomyAbstract
The article compares the depiction of Theagenes as the descendant of Achilles in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica, 2.35.1 with several portraits of the epic hero in prose texts belonging to a tradition that can be traced back to the 2nd century AD: Philostratus’ Heroicus, 48.1–4; Dictys Cretensis Ephemeris Belli Troiani, 1.14; Dares Phrygius’ De excidio Troiae historia, 13; Isaac Comnenus, 81 (Hinck). A rhetorical analysis of the close correspondences between these five portrayals suggests that their respective authors use the same framework of epideictic topics, remodelling the exercises of narration (διήγημα) and description (ἔκφρασις) of a person’s body and character in a way that goes beyond the Progymnasmata. Their purpose is perhaps to bridge a gap, given that Homer did not provide his audience with detailed physical descriptions of his own characters: physiognomic tools help reinterpreting and supplementing the Iliad. This common use of the same rhetorical devices generates a «commonplace» in the modern sense of the word, but each avatar deserves to be analysed within its own discursive context. In the specific case of the Aethiopica, I argue that Heliodorus models Theagenes on ancient interpretations of the Iliadic Achilles as a character who is still immature despite his extraordinary bravery, and who therefore provides a complex paradigm for the young hero at the beginning of the novel.
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