Carlo Brillante

In this study I re-examine the ll. 654-659 of Sophocles’ Ajax. The hero shows the intention of going to the sea shore to purify his body and to appease Athena’s wrath. According to a general opinion the origins of impurity are due to his killing of animals when he was victim of the madness sent by Athena...

This essay scrutinizes a well-known episode which took place in the night of the fall of Troy: the meeting of Helen and Menelaus. We know the general development of the events from texts which relate some versions we find in the archaic Greek poetry (Iliupersis, Little Iliad) and from representations of archaic Greek art. In this essay the different versions are scrutinized again and a new analysis is proposed which points out differences and possible developments. A special attention is dedicated to the Stesichorean version, whch is told in different ways in a scholium to Euripides’ Orestes (fr. 201 D.) and in the tabula Capitolina. The hypothesis is considered that the two versions were present in different works of the poet. Another important point concerns the version of the same events as they are represented in a Corinthian crater of the late archaic age. The events take place in Priam’s palace and see the participation of relevant characters such as Helen, Aeneas, Hecuba and probably Cassandra. In some points the scene recalls the Virgilian version in the second book of the Aeneid. The last section examines the versions in which Helen plays an active role to support the Achaean side in the last night of Troy.