Journal article
On Gilgamesh and Homer: Ishtar, Aphrodite and the meaning of a parallel
- Abstract:
- This article reconsiders the similarities between Aphrodite's ascent to Olympus and Ishtar's ascent to heaven in Iliad Book 5 and the Standard Babylonian Gilgamesh Tablet VI respectively. The widely accepted hypothesis of an Iliadic reception of the Mesopotamian poem is questioned, and the consonance explained as part of a vast stream of tradition encompassing ancient Near Eastern and early Greek narrative poetry. Compositional and conceptual patterns common to the two scenes are first analyzed in a broader early Greek context, and then across further Sumerian, Akkadian, Ugaritic and Hurro-Hittite sources. The shared compositional techniques at work in Mesopotamia and the Eastern Mediterranean can be seen as a function of the largely performative nature of narrative poetry. This contributes to explaining literary transmission within the Near East and onto Greece.
- Publication status:
- In press
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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Access Document
- Files:
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-
(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 529.2KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1017/S0009838821000513
Authors
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Journal:
- Classical Quarterly More from this journal
- Volume:
- 71
- Issue:
- 1
- Pages:
- 1-21
- Publication date:
- 2021-05-25
- Acceptance date:
- 2020-02-24
- DOI:
- ISSN:
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0009-8388
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1126326
- Local pid:
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pubs:1126326
- Deposit date:
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2020-08-15
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Bernardo Ballesteros
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association.
- Notes:
- This is the accepted manuscript version of the article. The final version is available online from Cambridge University Press at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838821000513
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