Hades’ Famous Foals and the Prehistory of Homeric Horse Formulas

• Issue: Volume 29, Number 1
• Author(s): Ryan Platte
• Article: View PDF | Download PDF
• Citation: http://journal.oraltradition.org/issues/29i/platte

Abstract

This article investigates Hades’ enigmatic Homeric epithet κλυτόπωλος (“of famous foals”) in an attempt to identify its origins within the linguistic history of Homeric composition. Through an analysis of the phonetic similarities that κλυτόπωλος shares with other Homeric expressions, it becomes possible to identify a broad network of formulas to which this epithet must be genetically related. Furthermore, analysis of this network as a whole allows insight into the diachronic development of a wide range of Homeric equine formulas, from rather deep Indo-European antiquity to archaic Greece.