Trojan Leap and Pyrrhic Dance in Euripides' Andromache 1129–41
1967; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 87; Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/627803
ISSN2041-4099
Autores Tópico(s)Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East
ResumoNeoptolemus, after defensive action with his shield against the missiles of the Delphians, decides to break away from the altar and try to escape—making in so doing ‘the well-known Trojan leap’, as Euripides says. This phrase plainly implies knowledge of a notorious incident of such a sort, associated, one might presume, with Neoptolemus himself. The schol, ad loc. however refers to a leap made by Achilles from the invasion ship on to Trojan soil, when a fountain of water shot up at the place he landed with his prodigious jump. This incident may be alluded to in El. 439, where the invasion fleet is said to have brought In later literature the legend is confirmed by Lycophron Alex. 245 (with schol.) and Antimachus fr. 59, where The fact that Antimachus uses a simile which resembles of the Delphians in the Andromache might also be thought to connect the two passages, but the image is a common one and Antimachus seems to borrow more directly from Achilles' leap on Hector in Il. xxii 138–9 But although this explanation of ‘the Trojan leap’ is plausible enough, and Norwood in his edition observes ‘obviously Neoptolemus leaping down from the altar suggests Achilles leaping down from the ship’, there is also evidence for a Trojan leap of Neoptolemus himself, and if this story (like the leap to shore of Achilles) came from a familiar Epic Cycle account of the war at Troy, it would be reasonable to suppose that Euripides had in mind an incident involving Neoptolemus rather than his father.
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