Battaglie di Afrodite: sulle perdute ‘Lemnie’ di Sofocle

This paper focuses on Sophocles’ now lost drama Women of Lemnos (frag. 384-389 R.), relatively neglected by the critics also considering its state of conservation. Yet several aspects of this play make it worthy of a deeper analysis: for example its title, transmitted from the sources in two different forms (Lemniai and Lemniades), but also the issue of the likely existence and circulation of a double version of the play, up to the vexata quaestio of its literary genre, disputed between tragedy and satyr-drama. Such topics are here discussed in detail, together with a proposal of reconstruction of the plot of this play.