Two Prophecies of Cassandra
Zavyalova Valentina P.
Analysing two of Cassandra’s prophecies in Lycophron’s poem Alexandra (dealing with the foundation of Cyrene and Odysseus’ death and burial) the author shows that the poem can only be understood in the light of aesthetic principles of Hellenistic poetry. Like other Alexandrian poets, Lycophron composes his work on a broad basis of mythological tradition, using variants and variations of myths and plots and their interpretations by previous authors. He is interested not so much in a plot or a motif itself, but in poetical nuances and mythological details. Cassandra’s prophecies can be short (as in the case of the foundation of Cyrene) or extensive (as in the case of Odysseus), but the mythological background is always deep and vast, and to decipher the message one must take into account the whole of the mythological tradition.
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