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The topic is the burial of the corpse of Odysseus at Aeaea in the Telegony. I argue that in the Cyclic epic the corpse is buried at an Aeaea localized in Italy. The prophecy of Tiresias in Odyssey 11 may allude to some version of the Telegonus story, but the Homeric epic largely discounts such epichoric legends about Odysseus. Correspondences and differences between the Odyssey and the Telegony result from independent self-positioning within traditional Odyssean myth.

I employ narratology and oral theory in a close reading of Phoenix's tale of the Kalydonian hero Meleager in Book 9 of the Iliad to clarify the function of this embedded narrative within the Homeric epic. Phoenix compares Achilles to Meleager, and the crux of the analogy--angry withdrawal from battle--has tempted some in the past to suppose that a pre-Homeric epic about an angry Meleager was the source for the Iliad's angry Achilles. But since most ancient narratives about Meleager do not feature withdrawal from battle, today Homerists more commonly conclude that Phoenix invents Meleager's withdrawal in order to pursue this analogy. Though I essentially subscribe to this conclusion, analysis of the poetics of Phoenix's narrative have often been misguided. In this essay I explore the traditionality of Phoenix's story and its narratological construction in the Homeric epic. The main goal is to better calibrate the significance of the Iliad's version of the story of Meleager. The issue is relevant to how the Iliad employs material from outside its narrative boundaries, including the Epic Cycle. Though not as famous as the labors of Heracles, the Trojan War, or the return of Odysseus, the myth about Meleager was popular in antiquity. That is not surprising, since his story often featured the hunt of a monstrous animal and intra-family violence. Sometimes there was a love interest, the famous huntress Atalanta. The story could be variously narrated, and some versions of the myth are incompatible. Homerists have long explored how the version told by Phoenix in Iliad 9 corresponds to or deviates from alternative versions. Before we address that issue, it would be helpful to examine basic elements of the tale of Meleager in order to explore their causal connections and thematic significance.

As with other schools of thought in Homeric research, neoanalysis has experienced experimentation and change. 1 Neoanalysts have slowly become aware of points of contact between their methodology and an oralist approach, and recently some oralists have enthusiastically accepted the compatibility of the two schools of thought. Intertextual theory can also provide much insight into the phenomena uncovered by neoanalysis, particularly motif transference. A central concept in neoanalyst methodology, motif transference involves the use of non-Homeric motifs within Homeric poetry. Neoanalysts have persuasively identified examples of motif transference, but their explanation of its mechanics and significance has been lacking. An oralist perspective modifies our understanding of how motif transference is produced and received, and intertextual theory can help explain the possible significance of Homeric reflection of non-Homeric material. Three levels of narrative are posited for this examination: A) cyclic myth, B) cyclic epic, and C) Homeric epic. Level B (cyclic epic) is an epic version of Level A (cyclic myth). 2 Level C (Homeric epic) exists as a self

This article has no abstract. Keywords: classics; folklore and mythology; legend; research

JN EO-ANALYSTS have persuasively argued that the Iliad indirectly demon strates knowledge of the duel between Achilles and Memnon.1 Yet the Aethiopis, the Epic Cycle poem that narrates their duel, is usually thought to be later than the Homeric poems,2 and undoubted representations of Memnon begin only in the sixth century. A skeptic might therefore con sider the encounter between Achilles and Memnon a post-Iliadic inven tion.3 But mythological images are no measure of the date of mythology; representations of myths often precede their attestation in literature, and vice-versa.4 And by comparison we should note that representations of the duel between Achilles and Hector do not precede those of Achilles and Memnon; in fact, images of Hector dueling Achilles are rare even in the sixth century, and often non-Homeric at that.5 Iconographical evi dence tends to lead to a conclusion already suggested by apparent reflec tions of the Memnon story in the Iliad: that Memnon was a well-known pre-Homeric character. To confirm further the antiquity of myth about

The poems of the Epic Cycle' are commonly regarded as minor satellites of the Iliad and Odyssey. Their authors, whoever they were and whatever their date,2 are suspected not only of composing introductions and sequels to the Homeric poems, but also of using the Homeric poems as a source to expand upon.3 The relation between the Cyclic poems and early Greek myth is therefore thought to be problematic.4 Certainly many scholars have been willing to consider at least some of the material in the Cyclic poems traditional and pre-Homeric.5 If anything, scholars have become more respectful of the Cyclic poems because of