From Socrates to Briseis: Homeric Problems and Epistolary Fiction in Heroides 3

Abstract

Abstract:This paper aims to investigate the epistolary fiction in Heroides 3 in the light of ancient Homeric scholarship. The study of the Iliadic intertext should allow us to propose a hypothesis to identify the character who inspired Briseis's letter. By focusing on both Ulysses's strange attitude in Iliad 9 and Briseis's strange ignorance in Heroides 3, it tends to propose a new interpretation of the epistolary mode.