The following notes concern textual problems in the prologue and parodos of Aeschylus’ Seven against Thebes. The text and apparatus criticus are based on those of M.L. West, Aeschylus: Tragoediae.

A survey of the available evidence for the Thracian cult of Rhesus, mainly on the basis of the pseudo-Euripidean Rhesus and of Philostratus’ Heroicus, shows that the identification of Rhesus with the so-called Heros Equitans, or “Thracian Horseman” rests on firmer ground than is sometimes assumed. The paper also reviews significant portions of the pictorial and epigraphic evidence for the Heros Equitans. It concludes that the parallels between Rhesus and the Heros Equitans are too striking to be ignored.Un relevé analytique (...) de la documentation disponible sur le culte thrace de Rhésos, se fondant surtout sur le Rhésos du pseudo-Euripide et sur l’Heroikos de Philostrate, montre que l’identification de Rhésos avec le prétendu « Heros Equitans » ou « Cavalier thrace » repose sur des fondements plus assurés qu’on ne le pense parfois. Cet article passe également en revue des parties significatives de la documentation iconographique et épigraphique pour le Heros Equitans. On en conclut que le parallélisme entre ce dernier et Rhésos est trop frappant pour être ignoré. (shrink)

At Aristophanes,Birds172ff., Peisetaerus persuades the Hoopoe that the birds would be better off building a city in the clouds. The Hoopoe announces that he will go off to summon the other birds to an assembly, so that the proposal may be approved. ‘How will you summon them?’, asks Peisetaerus. ‘That's easy’, replies the Hoopoe:ΕΠΟΨδɛυρὶ γὰρ ἐμβὰς αὐτίκα μάλ' ɛἰς τὴν λόχμην,ἔπɛιτ' ἀνɛγɛίρας τὴν ἐμὴν ἀηδόνα,καλοῦμɛν αὐτούς· οἱ δὲ νῷν τοῦ ϕθέγματοςἐάνπɛρ ἐπακούσωσι θɛύσονται δρόμῳ. 205ΠΕΙΣΕΤΑΙΡΟΣὦ ϕίλτατ' ὀρνίθων σύ, μή νυν ἕσταθι·ἀλλ', (...) ἀντιβολῶ σ', ἄγ' ὡς τάχιστ' ɛἰς τὴν λόχμηνɛἴσβαινɛ κἀνέγɛιρɛ τὴν ἀηδόνα. (shrink)

In this essay, I argue that the apparent historical inaccuracies contained within Lewis Nordan’s Wolf Whistle represent a systematic repeal of the controversial history surrounding the murder of Emmett Till in 1955. Nordan reconstitutes the principle characters to function as iconoclasms of the historical record. As iconoclasms, these representations undermine our culture’s accepted model of history, what Hayden White terms the “historical account”.

Lloyd Aeschylus. Pp. xvi + 418. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Cased, £95 . ISBN: 978-0-19-926525-1 . Cairns, Liapis Dionysalexandros. Essays on Aeschylus and his Fellow Tragedians in Honour of Alexander F. Garvie. Pp. xx + 312. Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, 2006. Cased, £45. ISBN: 978-1-905125-13-5.