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Conclusions and Consequences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2020

A. D. Morrison
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
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Summary

I have argued in this book that in the Argonautica we can see extensive and pervasive engagement with the genre of historiography, in particular with the Histories of Herodotus, which functions both as the modello-codice for historiographical discourse in general and as the particular modello-esemplare for a number of crucial passages in the epic. A good example of this double relationship is provided by the different ways in which Apollonius makes use of Herodotean ethnography, which is among the most distinctive (and influential) aspects of Herodotus’ historical writing. The Argonautica, I have suggested, views the mythological events of the heroic age which it narrates from an ethnographic perspective (quite different from the situation we find in the Homeric epics), in which the narrator explains the practices and customs of heroes such as Jason in a way strongly reminiscent of the kind of language used by Herodotus when explaining the nomoi of historical peoples (both Greek and non-Greek). Particular individual Herodotean descriptions of people, such as those of the Egyptians and Persians, are also engaged with directly by Apollonius in his portrayal of not only non-Greek peoples such as the Colchians, but also in his depiction of Greeks such as Jason. In part, as we have explored, the adoption of an ethnographic perspective and the engagement with particular ethnographies is a means for articulating the Argonautica’s distance from its epic modello-codice, Homer (especially the Odyssey).

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Conclusions and Consequences
  • A. D. Morrison, University of Manchester
  • Book: Apollonius Rhodius, Herodotus and Historiography
  • Online publication: 13 January 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108697989.009
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  • Conclusions and Consequences
  • A. D. Morrison, University of Manchester
  • Book: Apollonius Rhodius, Herodotus and Historiography
  • Online publication: 13 January 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108697989.009
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusions and Consequences
  • A. D. Morrison, University of Manchester
  • Book: Apollonius Rhodius, Herodotus and Historiography
  • Online publication: 13 January 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108697989.009
Available formats
×