http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/ Recently published papers in Leeds International Classical Studies, a peer-reviewed on-line journal which publishes articles and interim discussion papers on all aspects of Greek and Roman antiquity, and of the history of the classical tradition. en-gb http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/2009/200901.pdf This paper discusses a passage of Pacatus wherein he adverts to the recollective powers of Hortensius, Lucullus and Caesar; its aim is to trace the route by which this knowledge traversed the intervening four centuries. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/2008/200804.pdf This paper argues that Lucretius exploits a significant doctrinal overlap between his two most important influences, Empedocles and Epicurus, in his account of the domestication of animals. Like Empedocles (although for different reasons), the Epicureans were vegetarians; like him, they regarded friendship as the basis for society. Empedocles argued that in the golden age there existed a naturally occurring state of friendship between humans and animals. Although Epicurus and his followers disagreed with this theory, there are Epicurean sources that strongly suggest that they themselves thought of the first societies as being founded on friendship pacts made between both humans and animals. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/2008/200801.pdf This paper discusses the theme of casting 'unchaste' women into the sea as a punishment in Greek myth and literature. Particular focus will be given to the stories of Danae, Auge, Aerope and Phronime, who are all depicted suffering this punishment at the hands of their fathers. While Seaford (1990) has emphasized the theme of imprisonment which occurs in some of the stories involving the 'floating chest', I turn my attention instead to the theme of the sea. The coincidence in these stories of the threat of drowning for apparent promiscuity or sexual impurity with the escape of those girls who are innocent can be explained by the phenomenon of the 'trial by water' as evidenced in Babylonian and other early law codes (cf. Glotz 1904). Further evidence for this theory can be found in ancient novels where the trial of the heroine for sexual purity is often a key theme. The significance of chastity in the myths and in Athenian society is central to understanding the story patterns. The interrelationship of mythic and social ideals is drawn out in the paper. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/2008/200803.pdf This article examines references to the animal world and animal imagery in Greek tragedy in the light of ancient ideas on animals. Many scholars have explored how, at the time of tragedy, animals and humans appeared to share a range of emotions and qualities much wider than modern Western audiences tend to afford. As a consequence, I propose, much of animal imagery in ancient literature would benefit from being interpreted on the basis of such similarities and analogies, rather than as decoration or as a conventional device. On these premises, I explore how a 'middle ground' between animal and human is established in tragedy, in various ways: through the usage of generic terms for animal with reference to humans; through the motif of animals feeding on human cadavers; and through instances in which feelings are animalised, and the affected subject is represented as an animal. Finally, I analyse the motif of the 'yoke' as image of burden and partnership, an instance that joins together humans and animals in the face of crisis and necessity. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/2008/200802.pdf In this paper we analyse Oedipus' appearance during Odysseus' tale in book 11 of Homer's Odyssey in order to outline and test a methodology for appreciating the poetic and thematic implications of moments when 'extraneous' narratives or traditions appear in the Homeric poems. Our analysis, which draws on oral-formulaic theory, is offered partly as a re-evaluation of standard scholarly approaches that tend to over-rely on the assumed pre-eminence of Homeric narratives over other traditions in their original contexts or approaches that reduce such moments to instances of allusions to or parallels with fixed texts. In conjunction with perspectives grounded in orality, we emphasise the agonistic character of Greek poetry to explore the ways in which Odysseus' articulation of his Oedipus narrative exemplifies an attempt to appropriate and manipulate a rival tradition in the service of a particular narrative's ends. We focus specifically on the resonance of the phrases algea polla and mega ergon used by Odysseus as a narrator to draw a web of interconnections throughout Homeric and Archaic Greek poetry. Such an approach, in turn, suggests to what extent the Homeric Oedipus passage speaks to the themes and concerns of Homeric poetry rather than some lost Oedipal epic tradition and illustrates the importance of recognising the deeply competitive nature of Homeric narratives vis-à-vis other narrative traditions.