Crete in the Odyssey and early Greek epic

Abstract

This thesis explores the role of Crete in early Greek epic poetry, with a particular focus on the Odyssey. I argue that Crete functions not merely as a setting or topos, but as a conceptual object that is useful to epic poems because of its otherness, or ‘alterity’. That alterity derives from Crete’s capacity to take on a diverse and contradictory range of characteristics in the Greek imagination. Early epics use the versatile alterity that Crete offers as a foil against which they construct their own identities as poems, make claims to ‘panhellenic’ authority, and create panhellenic identities for their audiences. By modelling an alterity that is flexible and fluid, Crete takes us beyond the simplistic notion of ‘the (barbarian) other’ that currently dominates discussions of difference and identity in Archaic Greece.

I consider what Crete’s alterity offers the Odyssey and how the Odyssey, in making use of that alterity, shapes both Crete as a conceptual object and itself as a poem. I conduct this analysis through first an intra-poetic comparison of Crete’s various appearances within the Odyssey itself (Chapters 1 and 2), and then an inter-poetic comparison of Crete in the Odyssey with Crete as it appears in three other early epic poems: the Iliad (Chapter 3), the Hesiodic Theogony (Chapter 4), and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (Chapter 5). I adopt this comparative approach to gain a more thorough understanding of how the Odyssey’s use of Crete sets it apart from other early epic poems. I argue ultimately that the Odyssey uses Crete’s alterity to further its metapoetic agenda, and thereby to assert and maintain its own panhellenic identity and dominance within the poetic tradition.

Date of Award	13 May 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Pantelis Michelakis (Supervisor) & Nicoletta Momigliano (Supervisor)