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SPECIES OF AMBIGUITY IN SEMONIDES FR. 7

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2018

Daniel Anderson
Daniel Anderson*
Affiliation:
Coventry University
*
*[email protected]
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Abstract

This paper looks at the structure of Semonides’ catalogue in fragment 7, and at the metaphors that underpin it. There is a tension between the organising function of this catalogue and the hybrid entities it lists. It is suggested that the opening and closing lines frame the catalogue conceptually, exploiting ambiguities in the words χωρίς, γένος and φῦλον. Not only does Semonides play with ideas of order and embrace ambiguities of language, but he suggests that these are a feature of his poetic inheritance: the female types of his catalogue are a collection of hybrids assembled from a variety of Archaic texts and traditions.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Cambridge Classical Journal , Volume 64 , December 2018 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Cambridge University Press 

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Footnotes

Thank you to Cédric Scheidegger Lämmle and the anonymous reviewers at CCJ for their perceptive and helpful comments, and to Sean Gurd for suggesting to me the connection between Deleuze, Guattari and Semonides many years ago.

References

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