‘Sleeping the Brazen Slumber’ – A Cognitive Approach to Hom. Il. 11.241
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Fabian Horn
Abstract
Due to the general acceptance of oral poetry theory, Homeric metaphors have generally been regarded as formulaic set pieces with little or no contextual meaning and have correspondingly received little attention. This paper aims to demonstrate that metaphors in Homer can nevertheless fulfil cognitive functions in their respective contexts by the analysis, as an exemplary case, of a unique metaphor of death: in Il. 11.234–247 it is narrated that the Trojan Iphidamas is killed by Agamemnon and “sleeps the brazen slumber” (Il. 11.241). The metaphorical representation of death as a kind of falling asleep is an instantiation of the well-known conceptual metaphor death is sleep, while the description of the sleep of death as “brazen” permits several interpretations which all highlight the pathos of the killing and make the death of Iphidamas appear premature and regrettable. A comparison with two passages in Vergil’s Aeneid which adapt the phrasing “iron sleep” (Aen. 10.745–746; 12.309–310) indicates that the Homeric metaphor is particularly well suited to its context and contributes to the effect of the passage.
Acknowledgements
This paper was written during a postdoctoral research fellowship in group C-2: Space and Metaphor in Language, Cognition and Texts of the Exzellenzcluster 264 TOPOI: The Formation and Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilizations, Berlin. I owe a debt of gratitude to Susanne Gödde, Therese Fuhrer, and Glenn Patten for their encouragement and helpful remarks on earlier drafts of this article. All remaining mistakes are, of course, my own.
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© 2015 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Titelseiten
- Aufsätze
- ‘Sleeping the Brazen Slumber’ – A Cognitive Approach to Hom. Il. 11.241
- On the Authenticity of Eur. Or. 1384
- Stative Historical Presents in Greek Tragedy: Are They Real?
- Vom Nutzen der ὄψις: Aristoteles, Poetik 1450a12–14
- La salatura delle carni: nota a Catone, agr. 162,1–3 e Columella, rust. 12,55
- Titulis oppida capta legam: Storia di un ‘τόπος elegiaco’ da Gallo ad Ovidio
- A Marriage of Equals?
- Sortitus exitum facilem: Der Tod des Augustus bei Sueton
- Miszelle
- Opp. hal. 3.599
