Immobility and Motion in Colluthus’The Abduction of Helen

Orestis Karavas

doi:10.1515/tc-2020-0008

Article

**Immobility and Motion in Colluthus’*The Abduction of Helen***

Orestis Karavas
Orestis Karavas (PhD, Université de Strasbourg, 2004) obtained his first degree from the University of Crete before moving on to post-graduate studies at the Universities of Barcelona and Strasbourg. Since 2005 he has taught Ancient Greek Literature at the University of the Peloponnese, where he is currently an Assistant Professor. He has published widely on the literature of the Imperial Times and the epic poetry of Late Antiquity, and on Lucian of Samosata and Colluthus in particular.

Published/Copyright: June 25, 2020

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From the journal Trends in Classics Volume 12 Issue 1

Abstract

The poets of that time seek to find a way to engrave their names on the wall of immortality through their works. One way of achieving this was by “filling in the gaps” Homer left in his poems, or continuing through them the stories he started. Colluthus, a Greek poet of Egypt, who lived under the reign of Anastasius (5th-6th centuries AD), is known as the author of the short poem The Abduction of Helen. This “prequel” to the Iliad comes after a very long tradition of legends concerning the beginning of the war of Troy. In the present paper I will study how Colluthus uses his characters’ immobility and motion in The Abduction of Helen. I will show that motion always causes a catastrophe, whereas immobility is a synonym for forced inaction or imprisonment.

Keywords: Colluthus; motion; immobility

About the author

Orestis Karavas

Orestis Karavas (PhD, Université de Strasbourg, 2004) obtained his first degree from the University of Crete before moving on to post-graduate studies at the Universities of Barcelona and Strasbourg. Since 2005 he has taught Ancient Greek Literature at the University of the Peloponnese, where he is currently an Assistant Professor. He has published widely on the literature of the Imperial Times and the epic poetry of Late Antiquity, and on Lucian of Samosata and Colluthus in particular.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank my dear friend and colleague Efi Papadodima for her motivation, support and invaluable help during the composition of this paper.

Published Online: 2020-06-25

Published in Print: 2020-06-25

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/tc-2020-0008

Keywords for this article

Colluthus; motion; immobility