Abstract–Placing the Muses: Eumelus, fragments 34-35 (West)


After the work of Will (1955) on the Corinthiaca, the editions by Bernabé (1987), Davies (1988), and West (2003), and the studies by West (2002) and Debiasi (2004), it seems that there is a scholarly consensus with respect to the work of Eumelus. Three poems can be safely attributed to him, the Titanomachy, the Corinthiaca, and the Europia. This masterpoet of Corinth must have acquired considerable fame in the archaic period and it is not a coincidence that much later, when a series of epic poems were incorporated into a canon of Greek epic known as the Epic Cycle, his Titanomachy was included in it. Despite the progress made so far, there are still serious questions to be answered with respect to his poetry, like some puzzling fragments attributed to him. The aim of this talk is to explore the meaning, function, and placement of two of them (frr. 34-35 West) dealing with what is considered the departure point of all Greek epic: the Muses.