The Homeric Formula ἐπ’ εὐρέα νῶτα θαλάσσης and Its Reception: Adaptation and Reinterpretation in the Aeneid

Abstract

The article examines the reception of the Homeric formula ἐπ’ εὐρέα νῶτα θαλάσσης “on the broad back of the sea” in Greek and Latin poetry, and reconstructs (on the basis of scholia and lexical glosses) how Alexandrian exegesis evaluated this expression. Special attention is given to Vergil’s adaptation of this formula in the Aeneid: in one context Vergil translates the expression neutrally, reproducing Homer’s usage of εὐρέα νῶτα θαλάσσης to speak of the open sea, but omitting the metaphor of the sea’s back (Aen. 7, К рецепции гомеровской формулы ἐπ’ εὐρέα νῶτα θαλάσσης… 47 808–811); in another context, he faithfully reproduces the image, but applies it to the ridge of rocks on which Trojan ships were nearly wrecked (Aen. 1, 108–110).