The Secondary Incipit of the Odyssey (Od. 9.39): Quotation, Translation, and Adaptation in the Ancient Reception of Homer

Abstract

Although recent scholarship has studied the incipit as a privileged intertextual locus in Latin poetry, the comparable role of work-internal beginnings in classical literature has been largely overlooked. This article argues that the opening sentence of Odysseus’ Apologue functions as the Odyssey’s secondary beginning from Odysseus’ point of view—a role that ancient audiences of the poem recognized and developed. Specifically, I demonstrate that later Greek and Latin authors use the Odyssey’s secondary incipit to emphasize narratorial subjectivity and to mark new literary beginnings. Consequently, my research calls for a broader reconsideration of secondary incipits in Graeco-Roman literature.