The Genitive ὈΔΥΣΕΥΣ (OD. 24.398) and Homer's ‘Awkward’ Parentheses

Abstract

Modern editions read Ὀδυσεῦς, a contracted genitive singular, at Od. 24.398: an anomalous form, which fuels the case for the inauthenticity of the end of the Odyssey. We should consider rather reinstating the reading of the ‘vulgate’, Ὀδυσεῦς (nominative). This yields a different syntax: a rapid double change of subject or, equivalently, a parenthesis interrupting the flow of the sentence. This possibility, raised and dismissed by Eustathius, goes unmentioned by modern scholars, who are often in general (unlike their second-century counterpart Nicanor) ill-disposed to Homeric parentheses. A survey of Homeric parentheses shows the phenomenon in general and the specific instance postulated at Od. 24.398 to be unobjectionable. The validity of the terms ‘parenthesis’ and ‘sentence’ for Homeric discourse is also defended.