The rivalry of the goddeses in The argonautics of Apolonius of Rhodes

Abstract

Love is the central theme of the Argonautics. The innovation of the Alexandrian poet stems not only in having made of love passion the most important theme of his epic poem, but also in the new treatment he displays in this issue. In this article the central place that amorous passion occupies in the Hellenistic poem is contrasted with the marginal and implicit place to which it is confined in the Homeric epic tradition. To study this shifting, we will linger in the episode of Hera‘s and Athenas‘s visit to Aphrodite in Chant III; the ironic and humouristic allusions in the Argonautics which show the antagonism of the goddesses in the Iliad will also be dealt with. Our analysis has as its aim to demonstrate how these ways of appropiation of a previous literary tradition are the manifestation of the emergence of a new subjectivity and a new esthetic sensibility proper to the Hellenistic period.