In Book 1 of the Argonautica, Apollonios Rhodios counts out the
names of 55 heroes who set off to win the Golden Fleece. All the heroes are
given genealogical details that often contribute to their characterisation. Only
Admetus’ γενεή is passed over in silence by the catalogue. This was noted
already by H. Fränkel, who suspected a lacuna in the text. However, there is
another solution to the problem. The distinctive relationship of Admetus to his
parents is detailed nowhere more clearly and drastically than in Euripides’
Alcestis. In what is perhaps the most bitter agon in Greek tragedy, the father and
son quarrel so severely that Admetus throws his parents out of the house and
from then on wishes not to be regarded as their son. Apollonios assumes a
knowledge of this famous quarrel among his readers or hearers, and he shows
the sad consequences of this unreconciled generational conflict by breaking the
convention of filiation and silently calling to mind the unresolved problems of
the Alcestis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:83407 |
| Date | 07 February 2023 |
| Creators | Schollmeyer, Jonas |
| Publisher | De Gruyter |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | German |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 0031-7985 |
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