Variations on the Myth of the Abduction of Ganymede

Abstract

This article explores the verbal and the mythological intertextuality of the archaic Greek sources that relate the abduction of Ganymede and either omit or overemphasize the compensation of horses provided by Zeus to Ganymede’s father. By employing focalization, I trace the myth’s re-presentation in different narrative contexts and I investigate its reception by Hellanicus and Apollodorus. I argue that although the myth is tailored differently according to the narrative purposes of each work, its narratological function as a hortatory analepsis and a celebratory myth is consistent.