EIRENE

S T UDI A
GR AECA
ET
L A T I NA

LIV / 2018 / I–II

Centre for Classical Studies

Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
 E I R E N E . S T U DI A GR A EC A E T L AT I NA , L I V, 2018, 11–31

GILGAMESH’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALIT Y

(GILG. IX–XI) AS A NARR ATOLOGICAL
PATTERN FOR ODYSSEUS’S NOSTOS
(OD. V,1–XIII,187)
JAN M. KOZLOWSKI

The Odyssey’s Dependence on the Epic of Gilgamesh

(status quaestionis)

Since 1902, when Peter Jensen, in his article “Das Gilgameš-Epos und Homer”,1
enumerated similarities between the Odyssey and the Epic of Gilgamesh (Stand-
ard Babylonian version) and accepted the Odyssey’s direct dependence on the
Akkadian epic,2 the issue of a relationship between the two poems has been a
subject of scholarly attention.3 Scholars split into two groups: followers of the
hypothesis of the direct influence of one poem on the other4 and those (the
majority) who were skeptical.5
Martin L. West occupies a special place among scholars who have argued
in favor of the direct dependence of the Odyssey on the Epic of Gilgamesh. In his
The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth (1997) he

1
Jensen 1902.
2
“Nachdem ich in den Anmerkungen zu Kleininschr. Bibl. VI, I [non vidi] auf einige merk-
würdige Berührungen zwischen den Gilgamiš-Epos und der Odysseus-Fahrt hingewiesen hatte,
hat sich mittlerweile eine so weit gehende Aehnilichkeit zwischen herausgestellt, dass ich mich
heute ausser Stande sehe, einen Zusammenhang zwischen beiden, und zwar eine Abhängihkeit
der Odysseus-Fahrt von dem Gilgamiš-Epos, zu leugnen” (Jensen 1902, 125).
3
The bibliography of this issue is given in: L ouden 2011, 181; K arahashi – L ópez-Ruiz 2006,
98, n. 4; West 2005, 62; A busch 2001, 1; Burgess 1999, 203, n. 102; Burkert 1992, 200, n. 1;
cf. West 1997, 402–417; Gresseth 1975, 1–2, n. 1.
4
E.g. West 1997, 402, 437; Webster 1958, 84.
5
E.g. Burkert 1992, 88; K irk 1962, 110; Germain 1954, 427; Ungnad 1923, 137.

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JAN M. KOZLOWSKI

summarized the status quaestionis6 and added new observations. West drew the
conclusion that Odysseus’s wanderings show “an especially strong and clear re-
lationship with the Gilgamesh Epic”.7 The Oxford scholar repeated his opinion
in his later publications.8
West’s revival of Jensen’s hypothesis has not, however, found favor among
scholars. Jonathan S. Burgess stated: “It is possible that the tradition of the
Gilgamesh Epic somehow influenced the tradition of the Odyssey, though I do
not think that this should be considered the direct influence of one text upon
another.”9 In his review of   West’s book, Ken Dowden wrote that its author “con-
sequently overprivileges the role of borrowing (or influence) in dealing with the
elementary narrative material of comradeship and heroism.”10 The editor and
commentator of Gilgamesh, Andrew R. George, wrote: “I see the poems as much
more distant relatives than do those who argue for direct influence.”11 Bruce
Louden, in his Homer’s Odyssey and the Near East, though noting some similari-
ties between the two poems, cautiously did not express his opinion on the is-
sue.12 Johannes Haubold, in his Greece and Mesopotamia: Dialogues in Literature,
does not take a position towards the status quaestionis and only vaguely states:
“We know that Virgil read Homer, but we cannot be certain that Homer read
Gilgamesh,”13 adding: “The similarities between Greek and Akkadian epic (…)
are best seen in terms not of literary borrowing but of a shared understanding
of the universe and the place of human beings in it.”14

6
West referred, among others, to the following studies: Burkert 1992; Gresseth 1975;
Germain 1955; Stella 1955; Ungnad 1923; Wirth 1921; Jensen 1902.
7
West 1997, 402.
8
E.g. “Most strikingly, both poems [scil. the Iliad and the Odyssey] show the influence of
one particular Akkadian classic, the Epic of Gilgāmesh” (West 2014, 31); “The sum of parallels
is substantial and compels us to suppose that knowledge of the Gilgāmesh story somehow
filtered across to Greek poets” (West 2011, 314); “While one may quibble over details, it seems
unquestionable that the Odyssey narrative shows the influence of the Babylonian poem” (West
2005, 62).
9
Burgess 1999, 203.
10
Dowden 2001, 174.
11
George 2003, 57.
12
L ouden 2011.
13
Haubold 2013, 24.
14
Haubold 2013, 73.

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 GILGAMESH’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALIT Y AS A PATTERN FOR ODYSSEUS’S NOSTOS

The Scope of the Article

In this article I will try to present arguments which can strengthen Jensen’s and
West’s hypotheses on the influence of Gilgamesh on the Odyssey.15 In my opin-
ion, the strongest argument for the existence of a deep relationship between
the poems is not, as West said, “the sum of parallels”,16 but the sequence in
which they occur in both poems: the tripartite structure of the objective, con-
tinuous narrative of Odysseus’s nostos, defined as Odysseus’s return from Ogygia
(via Scheria) to Ithaca (Od. V,1–XIII,187),17 is a repetition of the narratological
scheme of Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality from Mashu (via Dilmun)18 to
Uruk, which comprises the content of Gilg. IX–XI. This schematic correspond-
ence between the two poems was either entirely ignored by scholars or noticed
only marginally.19 Below I will juxtapose the parallel episodes in both poems in
the order in which they appear in Gilg. IX–XI and in Od. V,1–XIII,187.

15
Methodologically, in the context of examining the relationship between Gilgamesh and
the Odyssey, I treat the two poems as redactional unities, taking as a reference only their final,
i.e. known to us, version. For the needs of the present article I used, for Gilgamesh, the edition
and translation by Andrew R. George (George 2003; George 1999) and for the Odyssey the edi-
tion by Peter von der Mühl (von der Mühl 1984) and the translation by Richmond Lattimore
(L attimore 1965).
16
West 2011, 314; cf. note 8.
17
The Odyssey, understood as Odysseus’s journey homewards in real time (i.e. starting from
Ogygia and except for the Apologoi), is summarized by Zeus’s words as addressed to Hermes,
“Hermes, since for other things also you are our messenger, announce to the nymph with the
lovely hair our absolute purpose: the homecoming (νόστος) of enduring Odysseus, that he
shall come back by the convoy neither of the gods nor of mortal people, but he shall sail on a
jointed raft and, suffering hardships, on the twentieth day make his landfall on fertile Scheria
at the country of the Phaiakians who are near the gods in origin (οἳ ἀγχίθεοι γεγάασιν), and
they will honor him in their hearts as a god, and send him back, by ship, to the beloved land
of his fathers” (Od. V,29–37); cf. Od. I,11–19; VII,241–297.
18
This is the Sumerian name for the mythological land where the deified Uta-napishti lives.
Although the name appears in no Gilgamesh literature, I use it in the present article for practi-
cal reasons.
19
E.g. Peter Jensen (Jensen 1902, 126–129) divided the Odyssey into “Odyssee I” (from the
Lotus-Eaters to Circe) and “Odyssee II” (from Circe to the return to Ithaca) and enumerated
similarities of sequences of analogous motifs (“die vollständige Parallelität … auch in der
Reihfolge der Ereignisse”). He first compared “Odyssee II” and Gilg. VI–XI (killing of the Bull
of Heaven = killing of Helios’s Cattle; death of Odysseus’s companions = death of Enkidu;
Gilgamesh’s lonely journey and his encounter with the Scorpion Man = Odysseus’s drifting
on the raft and encounter with Scylla and Charybdis; Shiduri = Calypso; journey to Scheria
= journey to Dilmun; Uta-napishti and his family = Alcinous and his family; return to Uruk
= return to Ithaca). Then he compared “Odyssee II” and Gilg. X–XI, juxtaposing Circe with
Uta-napishti’s wife, Uta-napishti himself with Shiduri as well as Odysseus’s journey to Hades

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JAN M. KOZLOWSKI

G i l g . I X 37 – X 91 ( M a s h u , S h i d u r i )
a n d O d . V,1 – 2 2 7 ( O g y g i a , C a l y p s o )

The content of Gilg. IX 37–X 91 is as follows: After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh,

terrified by the prospect of his own death, decides to find Uta-napishti, to whom
the god Enlil has given eternal life. The hero wanders over the steppe until he
arrives at Mount Mashu at the edge of the world, which is patrolled by guard-
ians, half-man and half-scorpion. Gilgamesh convinces them to let him pass to
Mashu’s other side. He passes through the tunnel, the exit of which goes out to
a “paradisiac” garden. Beyond the garden, by the seashore, Gilgamesh meets the
goddess Shiduri, who upon sight of him bars the door of her tavern. Gilgamesh
tells Shiduri the story of Enkidu and how much he now fears death. Shiduri
tells Gilgamesh about the ferryman Ur-shanabi, who can carry him across the
ocean, to Uta-napishti.
The content of Od. V,1–227 is as follows: at the request of Athena, Zeus
sends Hermes to Ogygia. The messenger of the gods tells Calypso about Zeus’s
desire to let Odysseus go home. The goddess obeys and promises to send her
lover back home.
Scholars have noted the following similarities between these two episodes:

1. Both in the case of Mount Mashu and in that of Ogygia we are dealing with
the reality of an axis mundi.20 Mashu is a mountain whose peaks are “the fabric
of the heavens” while its bases “reach down to Hades” (Gilg. IX 40–41). In the
first book of the Odyssey, Ogygia is described as “the navel of all the waters”
(ὀμφαλὸς θαλάσσης, Od. I,50), which brings to mind “the navel” (ὁ ὀμφαλός)
in Delphi.21 First, however, the nymph Calypso, the Ogygian genius loci, is de-
scribed as the daughter of Atlas – the Titan “who … sustains the towering col-
umns which bracket earth and sky and hold them together” (Od. I,52–54). We

(“Hadesfahrt”) with Gilgamesh’s conversation with the spirit of Enkidu; “Schon aus der Reih-
folge der Handlung erwartet man, daß Phäekenland Züge der Insel des seligen Utnapischti trägt,
der ja, wie wir oben hervorhoben, sich in Alkinoos, dem König der Phäaeke, wiederspiegelt”
(Ungnad 1923, 136). “In the sequence of his wanderings they [scil. Phaeacians] may be said to
occupy the same place as Ut-napishtim in those of Gilgamesh, in that Calypso, from whom
he reaches them is a Shiduri-figure and from them he goes straight home” (West 1997, 412).
20
Burgess 1999, 185, 188; cf. Jensen 1902, 128.
21
The mysterious hexameters of Epimenides as quoted by Plutarch indicate the analogy
between the Delphic “navel of earth” in Delphi and the Ogygian “navel of the sea” (Def.
orac. 409f ): “Now do we know that there is no mid-centre (ὀμφαλός) of earth or of ocean
(θαλάσσης).” Since we do not know in the Greek literature of any other “navels”, neither of
the earth nor of the sea, their association is natural.

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 GILGAMESH’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALIT Y AS A PATTERN FOR ODYSSEUS’S NOSTOS

can add that for the Greeks the island and the mountain are realities that are
much more analogous than it would seem to us.22

2. The slopes of Mashu and the isle of Ogygia are places of splendid vegetation.23
It is worth noting that in both cases this fabulous vegetation grows around
places which are related to a chthonic reality, i.e. Calypso’s cave and the exit
out of the tunnel, from which Gilgamesh emerges.24

3. In both cases we are dealing with a space characterized by the conflation of

the divine world and the world of the dead.25 In Gilgamesh this is already con-
nected with the very character of Mount Mashu as the axis mundi, the peaks
of which are “the fabric of the heavens” and the bases “reach down to Hades”.
Gilgamesh’s entrance into the tunnel and his march beneath the mountain
bear features of catabasis.26 On the other hand, the garden on Mashu’s slopes
has clear “paradisiac” connotations.27 The same pertains to Ogygia, which is
the place where Odysseus has immortality at his fingertips (Od. V,135–136;
VII,255–257). Ogygia is reminiscent of Elysium.28 The splendid vegetation and

22
See Vilatte 1991, 102–103.
23
Cf. Ungnad 1923, 136; West 1997, 411; Michaux 2003, 17; “... there was brilliance: he went
straight, as soon as he saw them, to ... the trees of the gods. A carnelian tree was in fruit, hung
with bunches of grapes, lovely to look on. A lapis lazuli tree bore foliage, in full fruit and
gorgeous to gaze on. ... cypress ... cedar ..., its leaf-stems were of pappardilû-stone and ... Sea
coral ... sasu-stone, instead of thorns and briars [there grew] stone vials. He touched a carob, [it
was] abashmu-stone, agate and haematite ... As Gilgamesh walked about ..., she lifted [her head
in order] to watch him” (Gilg. IX 171–196); “There was a growth of grove around the cavern,
flourishing, alder was there, and the black poplar, and fragrant cypress, and there were birds
with spreading wings who made their nests in it, little owls, and hawks, and birds of the sea
with long beaks who are like ravens, but all their work is on the sea water; and right about the
hollow cavern extended a flourishing growth of vine that ripened with grape clusters. Next to it
there were four fountains (κρῆναι δ᾽ ἑξείης πίσυρες), and each of them ran shining water, each
next to each, but turned to run in sundry directions; and round about there were meadows
growing soft with parsley and violets, and even a god who came into that place would have
admired what he saw, the heart delighted within him. There the courier Argeïphontes stood
and admired it” (Od. V,63–75).
24
“Most commentators understand it [scil. the Path of the Sun] to be a long underground
tunnel” (George 2003, 494).
25
Burgess 1999, 171–172, 178–180; Crane 1988, 16–21; cf. A nderson 1958.
26
Burgess 1999, 178; cf. Kovacs 1989, 77, n. 2.
27
Burgess 1999, 179.
28
“The reasons which lead me to compare Elysium and Calypso’s Isle of Ogygia may be
summarized under the following five headings: (1) both Elysium and Ogygia are imaginary
places; (2) both are islands; (3) both are located far to the west, presumably in the Atlantic;

15
JAN M. KOZLOWSKI

the four fountains also have “paradisiac” connotations.29 Calypso eats ambrosia
and drinks nectar (Od. V,195–200) while at the same time living in a cave (Od.
I,15; V,57.63.77.155; IX,30), which, as a chthonic element, suggests a connec-
tion with the world of the dead.30 The arrival of Hermes, who “caught up the
staff, with which he mazes the eyes of those mortals” (Od. V,47) and then flew
a very long distance, brings to mind his function as psychopompos, analogous to
the beginning of Od. XXIV.31

4. The parallels between Shiduri and Calypso are also important.32 Both are fe-
male deities of a lower order: In the Akkadian text the name of Shiduri is pre-
ceded by the divine determinative, indicating that she is classified as immortal.33
The nymph Calypso is a minor local deity. What is more, Shiduri is described
as kutummi kuttumat, “veiled with a veil” (Gilg. X 1), which brings about asso-
ciations with the name “Calypso”, which, according to West, “could express
the idea of a ‘veiled one’.”34 Both Shiduri and Calypso ultimately help the hero
cross to the other side of the ocean. Shiduri sends Gilgamesh to Ur-shanabi, who
will transport him over the ocean, while Calypso helps Odysseus as he crosses
the sea by giving him an axe, food and an auspicious wind. We can add that
both of these characters are connected with the sea. It is explicitly stated that
Shiduri “lives by the seashore, there she dwelt” (Gilg. X 1–2), while Calypso not
only lives in Ogygia, which is “the navel of all the waters”, but is also Atlas’s
daughter “who has discovered all the depths of the sea” (Od. I,52–53).

(4) both enjoy similar climate and ease of life; (5) both possess important associations with
death” (A nderson 1958, 6).
29
Cf. West 1997, 411; Burgess 1999, 180. “A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and
from there it divides and becomes four branches” (Gen 2,10). Also, the presence in Ogygia of
a man and a woman alone (i.e. of Odysseus and Calypso), can bring to mind Adam and Eve
in Eden.
30
Burgess 1999, 171, n. 3; L ouden 2011, 69.
31
Crane 1988, 16; L ouden 2011, 69.
32
Cf. Jensen 1902, 128, 130; Ungnad 1923, 136–137; West 1997, 410–412; Michaux 2003,
16–18; West 2005, 62–63; West 2014, 127, n. 67.
33
West 1997, 405.
34
West 1997, 410; West 2014, 127, n. 67; cf. George 2003, 498; it is worth noting that in
the lexical field of the verb καλύπτω, whose future form (καλύψω) overlaps, except for the
accent, with the name of the goddess (Καλυψώ), there are at least three words which mean
veil: κάλυμμα, καλύπτειρα, καλύπτρα (Montanari 2015, 1027).

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 GILGAMESH’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALIT Y AS A PATTERN FOR ODYSSEUS’S NOSTOS

G i l g . X 9 2 – 2 0 3 ( f r o m S h i d u r i to D i l m u n )
a n d O d . V, 2 2 8 – 4 9 3 ( f r o m O g y g i a to S c h e r i a )

The next stage of Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality is Dilmun, where Uta-
napishti and his wife live. Many of elements which build this episode are analo-
gous to the episode of Odysseus’s stay in Scheria; but, before we move on to a
comparison of these episodes we must examine how Gilgamesh and Odysseus
arrived in these places, since here too there are some important parallels.
The content of Gilg. X 92–203 is as follows: On Shiduri’s advice, Gilgamesh
goes to Uta-napishti’s ferryman, Ur-shanabi. They fight. Gilgamesh crushes the
mysterious Stone Ones (šūt abni). Subsequently, Gilgamesh tells Ur-shanabi
about his adventures with Enklidu, Enkidu’s death, and how much he himself
now fears death. Ur-shanabi agrees to carry him to Dilmun. Because the Stone
Ones are destroyed, Gilgamesh must make wooden punting-poles of immense
length as an alternative means of propulsion. Gilgamesh and Ur-shanabi sail to
Dilmun. They arrive at the Waters of Death. After Gilgamesh has used all the
poles, he makes a sail from the ferryman’s garment. His hand serves him as a
mast. Uta-napishti observes them from a distance.
The content of Od. V,228–493 is as follows: as dawn appears, Calypso gives
Odysseus an axe and brings him to the borders of the island, where tall trees
grow. Odysseus cuts the trees and builds a raft. Calypso gives Odysseus food
for the journey. On the eighteenth day at sea Odysseus sees the mountains of
the land of the Phaeacians. But, Poseidon spots his raft and starts a storm that
torments Odysseus. After three days of struggle with the waves, Odysseus is
washed up on Scheria.
Scholars have observed that in both cases we are dealing with a detailed
description of the cutting of timber in order to pass over the ocean:35 In Gil-
gamesh we read: “Gilgamesh … took up his axe in his hand, he drew forth [the
dirk from his belt,] he went down to the forest and [cut three hundred] punt-
ing-poles, each five rods in length. He trimmed them and furnished them each
with a boss, then he brought [them to Ur-shanabi, the boatman]. Gilgamesh
and Ur-shanabi crewed [the boat,] they launched the craft, and [crewed it] them-
selves,” while in the Odyssey we read: “She gave him a great ax that was fitted
to his palms and headed with bronze, with a double edge each way, and fitted
inside it a very beautiful handle of olive wood, well hafted; then she gave him
a well-finished adze, and led the way onward to the far end of the island where

35
Cf. Ungnad 1923, 136; Michaux 2003, 17; West 1997, 411.

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JAN M. KOZLOWSKI

there were trees, tall grown, alder and black poplar and fir that towered to the
heaven, but all gone dry long ago and dead, so they would float lightly. But
when she had shown him where the tall trees grew, Calypso, shining among di-
vinities, went back to her own house while he turned to cutting his timbers and
quickly had his work finished. He threw down twenty in all, and trimmed them
well with his bronze ax, and planed them expertly, and trued them straight to
a chalkline” (Od. V,234–245).
To this parallel we can also add the following elements:

a. The further journey is described as an enormously long distance to sail.36 Shi-

duri’s words to Gilgamesh, “O Gilgamesh, there never has been a way across,
nor since olden days can anyone cross the ocean” (Gilg. X 79–80), correspond
to Odysseus’s words to Calypso: “you tell me to cross the sea’s great open space
on a raft. That is dangerous and hard. Not even balanced ships rejoicing in
a wind from Zeus cross over” (Od. V,174b–176). At the same time, only a god
can easily overcome this distance. In Gilgamesh, Shiduri tells Gilgamesh, “Only
Shamash the hero crosses the ocean: apart from the Sun God, who crosses the
ocean?” (Gilg. X 81–82), while in the Odyssey we read a description of Hermes’s
swift flight from Olympus to Ogygia (Od. V,45–55).

b. In both episodes the sea journey is initially easy, and only later do problems
appear. Ur-shanabi and Gilgamesh “in three days make a journey of a month
and a half” (Gilg. X 171); however, when they arrive at the Waters of Death,
which are adjacent to Dilmun, Gilgamesh is informed by Ur-shanabi, “Let your
hand not touch the Waters of Death, lest you wither [it!]” (Gilg. X 175). When
Gilgamesh uses all the punting poles he takes the ferryman’s garment to make
a sail (Gilg. X 181–183). Only thus can they reach Dilmun. As for the Odyssey,
initially Odysseus sails without any problems (Od. V,269–281); only on the eight-
eenth day, when he is within sight of the land of the Phaeacians, does Poseidon
wreck Odysseus’s raft. It is only thanks to the veil given him by the sea nymph
Ino that the exhausted Odysseus swims ashore (Od. V,282–462).

36
Cf. Michaux 2003, 16.

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 GILGAMESH’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALIT Y AS A PATTERN FOR ODYSSEUS’S NOSTOS

Gilg. X 204–XI 300 (Gilgamesh in Dilmun)

a n d O d . V I ,1 – X I I I , 7 7 ( O d y s s e u s i n S c h e r i a )

Gilgamesh tells Uta-napishti about his adventures with Enklidu, Enkidu’s death,
and how much he himself now fears death. In response, Uta-napishti gives him
a “philosophical lecture” on the power of death and tells him how he himself
acquired immortality: The gods decided to destroy all of mankind by sending
a flood; however, the god Ea warned Uta-napishti. He ordered him to build a
ship and to save himself and his family, his possessions and “the seed of all liv-
ing things”. As the flood came, only Uta-napishti and his companions survived.
The God Enlil granted him immortality and settled him in Dilmun. Uta-napishti
suggests that Gilgamesh go without sleep for seven days. The hero fails the test
and realizes that if he cannot conquer sleep then he has no hope of gaining
immortality. Upon Uta-napishti’s command Ur-shanabi washes Gilgamesh and
dresses him in royal robes. At the request of his wife, Uta-napishti agrees to
reveal to Gilgamesh a “mystery of the gods”: that at the bottom of the ocean
there is a plant that gives eternal youth. Gilgamesh plucks the plant and rushes
with Ur-shanabi towards Uruk.
The narrative of Od. VI,1–XIII,77 is as follows: As Odysseus sleeps in the
thicket, Athena goes to the palace of king Alcinous and tells Nausicaa to go with
her maidens to the sea-shore to do the laundry. Their voices awaken Odys­seus,
who emerges naked from the forest. He causes all the maidens to flee, except for
Nausicaa. Odysseus falls at her feet and tells her of his wanderings. The princess
calls her maidens and orders them to bathe and clothe Odysseus. Together they
go to the town to the court of Alcinous. There, Odysseus tells queen Arete his
story and asks her to help him return to Ithaca. Alcinous orders his subjects to
prepare a ship and to carry Odysseus home. Subsequently, the king organizes
games. Odysseus wins a discus competition. At the banquet that follows, when
Alcinous’s minstrel Demodocus sings about the Trojan War, Odysseus bursts
into tears. When asked by the king, Odysseus reveals his name. Then Odysseus
tells his famous tale (the Apologoi). The next day the Phaeacians load gifts onto
the ship which will take Odysseus back to Ithaca.
Scholars have noticed the following parallels between the elements that make
up these two episodes:37

1. On the seashore, both Gilgamesh and Odysseus are washed in fresh water
and dressed, and their exceptional beauty is revealed. Uta-napishti turns to

37
Jensen 1902, 126, 128; Ungnad 1923, 134–135; West 1997, 412–415.

19
JAN M. KOZLOWSKI

Ur‑shanabi: “As for the man that you led here, his body is tousled with matted
hair, the pelts have ruined his body’s beauty. Take him, Ur-shanabi, lead him
to the washtub, have him wash his matted locks as clean as can be! Let him
cast off his pelts, and the sea bear them off, let his body be soaked till fair! Let
a new kerchief be made for his head, let him wear royal robes, the dress fitting
his dignity! Until he goes home to his city, until he reaches the end of his road,
let the robes show no mark, but stay fresh and new!” (Gilg. XI 250–261). And
directly after this we read: “Ur-shanabi took him, and led him to the washtub.
He washed his matted locks as clean as could be, he cast off his pelts, and the
sea bore them off. His body was soaked till fair, he made a new [kerchief for]
his head, he wore royal robes, the dress fitting his dignity” (Gilg. XI 262–267).
Nausicaa orders her maidens to bathe Odysseus; however, the hero prefers to
wash himself: “But when great Odysseus had bathed in the river and washed
from his body the salt brine, which clung to his back and his broad shoulders,
he scraped from his head the scurf of brine from the barren salt sea. But when
he had bathed all, and anointed himself with olive oil, and put on the clothing
this unwedded girl had given him, then Athene, daughter of Zeus, made him
seem taller for the eye to behold, and thicker, and on his head she arranged the
curling locks that hung down like hyacinthine petals. And as when a master
craftsman overlays gold on silver, and he is one who was taught by Hephaistos
and Pallas Athene in art complete, and grace is on every work he finishes, so
Athene gilded with grace his head and his shoulders” (Od. VI,224–235).

2. In Dilmun lives Uta-napishti about whom Gilgamesh tells the scorpion-men:

“[I am seeking] the [road] of my forefather, Uta-napishti, who attended the gods’
assembly, and [found life eternal:] of death and life [he shall tell me the secret]”
(Gilg. IX 75–77); while the god Enlil says: “In the past Uta-napishti was a mortal
man, but now he and his wife shall become like us gods!” (Gilg. XI 203–204). We
observe therefore that Uta-napishti occupies an intermediate position between
the humans and the gods. This resembles the status of the Phaeacians, who are
described as “near the gods in origin” (Od. V,35). Alcinous has immortal dogs
(Od. VII,94) and a garden whose fruits never rot or fail all year round, either in
winter or in summer (Od. VII,117–119).

3. Uta-napishti rules in Dilmun with his unnamed wife just as Alcinous rules the
island of Scheria with his wife Arete.38 We can add that in both cases the queen

38
Cf. Jensen 1902, 128; Gresseth 1975, 8–9; Michaux 2003, 19; West 1997, 413–414.

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 GILGAMESH’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALIT Y AS A PATTERN FOR ODYSSEUS’S NOSTOS

takes a protective and intercessory attitude towards the newcomer. Uta‑napishti’s

wife turns to her husband and says: “Gilgamesh came here by toil and by tra-
vail, what have you given for his homeward journey?” (Gilg. XI 274–275). It is
to Arete, at the beginning of his stay in Scheria, that Odysseus turns for help
(Od. VII,54.75–77.142–152.233–239).

4. In the central part of both episodes there is a long narrative in the first per-
son39 (which in both poems is the longest fragment in indirect speech) about
how the hero was saved by the gods from the danger of cataclytic waters; in
Gilgamesh from the waters of the deluge, while in the Odyssey from the seawater
and vengeance of Poseidon.

To those parallels we can add another: Uta-napishti informs Gilgamesh that the
god Enlil, when blessing him, said: “Uta-napishti shall dwell far away, where
the rivers flow forth!” (Gilg. XI 206). Then Uta-napishti adds: “So far away they
took me, and settled me where the rivers flow forth” (Gilg. XI 207). The same
applies to the Phaeacians, as initially they lived elsewhere and were later resettled
by their ancestor Nausitous, son of Poseidon, in Scheria, “far away from men
who eat bread” (ἑκὰς ἀνδρῶν ἀλφηστάων, Od. VI,7). Fresh water, and especially
a place where the river flows into the sea, is an important feature of Scheria’s
geography. The place where Odysseus first has contact with the island is “to the
mouth (στόμα) of a sweet-running river” (Od. V,441). Almost all of the action
in the sixth book of the Odyssey takes place not solely on the seashore but also
in the presence of fresh water.

G i l g . X I 3 01 – 3 2 9 ( G i l g a m e s h ’ s R e t u r n to U r u k )
a n d O d . X I I I , 7 8 – 18 7 ( O d y s s e u s ’ s R e t u r n to I t h a c a )

In the Akkadian epic, we read how on Gilgamesh’s homeward journey the

miraculous youth-restoring plant he had found is eaten by a snake. For the
second time it turns out that immortality is not Gilgamesh’s destiny. Finally,
Ur‑shanabi and Gilgamesh reach the city of Uruk, where Gilgamesh proudly
shows Ur‑shanabi the great city walls.
In the Odyssey we read that at sunset the Phaeacians and Odysseus sail away

39
Cf. Burkert 1992, 117; Stella 1955, 143–144; West 1997, 414–415.

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JAN M. KOZLOWSKI

from Scheria. Odysseus falls asleep. At dawn the ship arrives in Ithaca. The Phaea-
cians take the sleeping Odysseus ashore and sail away. Poseidon, seeing what has
happened, is full of anger and turns the ferrymen’s ship to stone. The horrified
Phaeacians try to appease him by making sacrifices before (as announced by
an oracle) he closes their port forever with a mountain. King Alcinous calls the
Phaeacians to cease to transport mortals. On Ithaca, Odysseus awakens from
a sleep, not recognizing his native land.
There is a parallel between Ur-shanabi and the Phaeacians who convey Odys­
seus home. In both cases the ferrymen are the subjects of a ruler of a land where
the hero has spent recent days. In both cases this is the last such service by the
ferrymen.40 Uta-napishti rebukes Ur-shanabi for having conveyed Gilgamesh to
Dilmun, saying: “[May] the quay [reject] you, Ur-shanabi, and the ferry scorn
you! You who used to walk this shore, be banished from it now” (Gilg. XI 247–
248). In the Odyssey, Alcinous says to the Phaeacians: “Stop our conveying of
every mortal who makes his arrival here at our city” (Od. XIII,180–181). It is
worth noting that in both cases the sin of the ferrymen is that they transport-
ed a mortal man. What is more, both Ur-shanabi’s and the Phaeacians’ ships
move thanks to an atypical and magical force.41 Ur-shanabi’s mysterious Stone
Ones most probably enabled his crossing in his vessel. In the tablets from Sip-
par, Ur-Shanabi says: “The Stone Ones, O Gilgamesh, enabled my crossing, for
I must not touch the Waters of Death” (Si IV 22–24), while in the Odyssey we
read about the Phaeacians’ vessels: “for there are no steersmen among the Phaea-
cians, neither are there any steering oars for them, such as other ships have, but
the ships themselves understand men’s thoughts and purposes, and they know
all the cities of men and all their fertile fields, and with greatest speed they cross
the gulf of the salt sea, huddled under a mist and cloud, nor is there ever any
fear that they may suffer damage or come to destruction” (Od. VIII,557–563).
There is also a slight but noticeable analogy between the mysterious Stone Ones
and the fact that the vessel of the Phaeacians was in the end turned to stone
by Poseidon (Od. XIII,163).

40
L ord 1990, 376; Burkert 1992, 200, n. 1.
41
Ungnad 1923, 136; Gresseth 1975, 10; West 1997, 415; Michaux 2003, 20.

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 GILGAMESH’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALIT Y AS A PATTERN FOR ODYSSEUS’S NOSTOS

Conclusion

I am convinced that these parallels cumulatively suffice to cause one repeat after
West that “the sum of parallels is substantial and compels us to suppose that
knowledge of the Gilgamesh story somehow filtered across to Greek poets.”42 We
can clearly see, however, that in Gilg. IX–XI and Od. V,1–XIII,187 we are dealing
with, first of all, a very similar narratological tripartite scheme:

Mashu → Dilmun → Uruk

Ogygia → Scheria → Ithaca43

From both of these stories one can derive a common narrative denominator
that to the same extent summarizes the content of Gilg. IX–XI and the objec-
tive narrative of Od. V,1–XIII,187:

An extremely exhausted hero arrives at a place which has features of the axis
mundi and constitutes a link between the world of the gods and the world of
the dead. There is a beautiful forest growing there. The hero meets a goddess
who lives in close proximity to the sea, without whose help any further journey
would be impossible. The hero cuts a number of trees with an axe to cross the
sea. At first the journey is easy, but in its second part the hero faces a threat to

42
West 2011, 314.
43
This tripartite division, as overlapping with the objective, continuous narrative of Odys-
seus’s return to Ithaca, is fundamental for the reference made by the author of the Odyssey to
Gilgamesh. It is nevertheless worth noting that the reference to the Gilgamesh Epic, at the level of
a sequence of episodes, is not limited to this. The tale of Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality is
preceded by two great events that are decisive for the future fate of the protagonist: the killing
of the Bull of Heaven and, earlier, the slaying of Humbaba – long ago scholars saw in these
two episodes a parallel to the killing of Helios’s cattle (e.g. Jensen 1902, 543; Stella 1955, 143;
West 1997, 417) and the blinding of Polyphemus (e.g. L ord 1990, 374–375; Bachvarova 2016,
55–56). Had these two episodes been recounted only in the Apologoi, they would not be of
interest to us; however, these are the only episodes from the Apologoi which are narrated at the
beginning of the first book of the Odyssey. Already in the prologue we read: “Even so he could
not save his companions, hard though he strove to; they were destroyed by their own wild
recklessness, fools, who devoured the oxen of Helios, the Sun God, and he took away the day of
their homecoming” (Od. I,6–9). Later Zeus states: “It is the Earth Encircler Poseidon who, ever
relentless, nurses a grudge because of the Cyclops, whose eye he blinded; for Polyphemos like
a god, whose power is greatest over all the Cyclopes” (Od. I,68–71). The tale of the adventures
of Gilgamesh and Enkidu is limited to these two episodes; also the beginning of the Odyssey
reduces the content of the Apologoi to these two key episodes, which moreover appear (this
knowledge is, however, learnt afterwards from the Apologoi) in an analogous sequence.

23
JAN M. KOZLOWSKI

his own life. Finally, however, thanks to a clever device he reaches land, where
a river flows into the sea. In this land there rules a semi-divine not autochthon­
ous ruler, whose wife acts especially favorably towards the hero. There we also
listen to a long first-person narrative about how the gods’ “chosen one” was
rescued from the threat of the water element. In his journey homewards the
hero is accompanied by ferrymen, who are the subjects of the ruler of the land.
For these ferrymen, who are not supposed to ferry mortal people, it is their
last service of this kind.

It may seem surprising that until now no scholar has noticed that the storyline
of Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality and that of Odysseus’s return home cor-
respond to such an extent.44 In my opinion, this was caused, first of all, by more
or less conscious incorporation of the Apologoi and the adventures described
therein into the definition of Odysseus’s nostos, while at the level of the objec-
tive narrative the Odyssey, defined as a story about Odysseus’s return to Ithaca,
starts only in the fifth book.45
The second reason, in my opinion, is the multi-layered way the author of
the Odyssey used elements from Gilgamesh, which does not make it easy to spot
simple and fundamental references at the schematic level.46 For this reason, as

44
True, West in his The East Face of Helicon noted: “In the sequence of his wanderings they
[scil. Phaeacians] may be said to occupy the same place as Ut-napishtim in those of Gilgamesh,
in that Calypso, from whom he reaches them is a Shiduri-figure and from them he goes straight
home” (West 1997, 412). However, the Oxford scholar, as it seems, did not draw any conclu-
sion from this observation and did not return to this issue in any of his later publications.
Although seventeen years later West, summing up his research on the Odyssey’s dependence on
Gilgamesh, wrote: “Many of the parallels are not just free floating motifs but embrace whole
scenic structures and sequences” (West 2014, 31), nothing indicates that he meant the analogy
of the tripartite division as revealed in the present article.
45
The authority of Aristotle, who summed up the Odyssey in the following manner, could be
of some impact here: “The story of the Odyssey is quite short. A man is for many years away
from home and his footsteps are dogged by Poseidon and he is all alone. Moreover, affairs at
home are in such a state that his estate is being wasted by suitors and a plot laid against his
son, but after being storm-tossed he arrives himself, reveals who he is, and attacks them, with
the result that he is saved and destroys his enemies. That is the essence, the rest is episodes”
(Poetics, 1455b).
46
And so, for example, references to the figure of Shiduri in the Odyssey are as if “split in two”.
There is almost the same number of parallels between Shiduri and Calypso as between Shiduri
and Circe (Jensen 1902, 128; Germain 1954, 357–358.418–419; West 1997, 404–410). There is
also a parallel between Ishtar’s wooing of Gilgamesh and Calypso’s wooing of Odysseus (e.g.
West 1997, 411–412; Louden 2011, 67). At the same time, however, there is a close similarity
between Nausicaa, who admires the freshly bathed Odysseus and thinks of marrying him, and
Ishtar, who admires the freshly bathed Gilgamesh and proposes marriage to him (West 1997,

24
 GILGAMESH’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALIT Y AS A PATTERN FOR ODYSSEUS’S NOSTOS

it seems, Martin L. West, when editing the entry “Gilgamesh” in The Homer En-
cyclopedia and pointing to the dependence of the Odyssey on Gilgamesh, wrote
only of a “sum of parallels”.47

How the Author of the Odyssey

Could Have Known The Epic of Gilgamesh

If the author of the Odyssey knew Gilgamesh, how could he have become acquaint-
ed with this poem? Since I have little to add to what in recent years (2014–2016)
scholars dealing with the reception of Middle Eastern poetry in Greek archaic
culture have said on this subject, I give the floor to them. In his last book,
The Making of the Odyssey, West wrote: “The question for the moment is how it
could come about that this foreign poem could independently influence the
poets of both the Iliad and the Odyssey. (…) I certainly think that the bilingual
poet, or more likely a number of them, is an almost necessary postulate, not
only for the Gilgāmesh, but for the wider issue of interaction between the Ak-
kadian and Greek traditions. And we know that at an earlier period, in the later
second millennium, there were versions of Gilgāmesh in other languages than
Akkadian, in Hurrian and Hittite. The hypothesis of a Greek one made in the
eighth or seventh century would solve our problem.”48 As to a possible place
of transmission, Bruno Currie in his Homer’s Alusive Art stated: “Cyprus would
be a plausible place to locate the early receptions of Dumuzi-Inanna songs and
Gilgamesh into Greek hexameter poetry.”49 Mary R. Bachvarova in her From

413). What is more, the scene where Nausicaa brings the freshly bathed man to the town of the
Phaeacians resembles the episode described in Gilg. I–II where a young woman meets the naked
Enkidu at a watering place, gives him clothes and brings him to the city (West 1997, 413).
47
See note 8.
48
West 2014, 31; then West writes: “The most plausible way out, it seems to me, is to as-
sume that one of those bilingual poets introduced a whole series of Gilgāmesh motifs into
an epic on a Greek mythical theme, an epic that then became popular and influenced other
Greek poets, including those of the Iliad and Odyssey” (West 2014, 32). While West’s idea
that most likely there was a translation of Gilgamesh into Greek seems reasonable, his concept
that a hypothetical poem into which “bilingual poets introduced a whole series of Gilgāmesh
motifs” was an inspiration for the author of the Odyssey is much less probable. In light of the
observations made in the present article, the existence of a whole poem of Gilgamesh in Greek,
or at least of such a narratological integrum where the sequence of motifs we see in Gilgamesh’s
quest for immortality (Gilg. IX–XI) was preserved, is, using West’ words, “an almost necessary
postulate”.
49
Currie 2016, 202.

25
JAN M. KOZLOWSKI

Hittite to Homer. Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic expressed a similar

opinion: “Cyprus was probably the avenue of transmission for the specific par-
allels between Greek and Near Eastern epic.”50 We can therefore assume that
it was most probably through Cyprus that in the eighth century, or earlier,51
knowledge of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which included the story of Gilgamesh’s
quest for immortality, passed into Greek culture.

Inter pretation of the Odyssey in Light

o f I t s D e p e n d e n c e o n G i l g a m e s h 52

Scholars whose view it is that the Odyssey is dependent on Gilgamesh have not
say much either about the possible influence of this dependence on the inter-
pretation of singular episodes of the Odyssey or about how it can affect our un-
derstanding of the entire Homeric poem. However, if we accept that the author
of the Odyssey consciously fitted53 the narrative of Odysseus’s nostos into the
pattern of Gilgamesh’s unsuccessful quest for immortality, it is also reasonable
to accept that the discovery of this relationship can shed light on our interpre-
tation of the entire Homeric poem.
The issue of human mortality is at the center of the first of the Homeric
epics. The death of the heroes, who “like great oaks cut with Thanatos’s axe fall
into the abyss of Hades”54 is a leitmotif in the Iliad. Achilles, who could enjoy a
long life free from any danger, accepts his mortal fate. For this reason the Iliad
has been named by scholars the “poem of death”,55 the “poem of mortality”56
or the “poem of life and death”.57 The same is true for the Odyssey. Although

50
Bachvarova 2016, 323.
51
West’s “seventh century” (see above) seems too late.
52
The present article is devoted, first of all, to the structural dependence of the Odyssey on
the tale of Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality. The following reflections concerning the influ-
ence of this dependence on one’s understanding of the Odyssey are merely an example of how
this dependence can be used to interpret the Homeric epic. I hope that in the future scholars
will use the findings of this article to create an in-depth interpretation of the Odyssey in light
of its dependence on Gilgamesh.
53
As for the question of the conscious use of Near Eastern sources by Greek epic poets, see
first of all Currie 2016, 200–222 (subchapter: “The question of Awareness of Near Eastern
Sources”).
54
Kozlowski 2010, 565.
55
Griffin 1980, 143.
56
Vermeule 1979, 97
57
Schein 1984, 84.

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 GILGAMESH’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALIT Y AS A PATTERN FOR ODYSSEUS’S NOSTOS

in the Odyssey blood is shed much more rarely than in the Iliad, the issue itself
of human mortality is more distinctly present there than in the Iliad. Odys-
seus, upon entering into a relationship with the immortal Calypso, has eternal
life at his fingertips. Despite this, though, the hero renounces the possibility
of achieving divine status, which Gregory Crane called “the unwithering spring
of Greek dreams”,58 and accepts his mortal fate anew. I am deeply convinced
that for this reason, i.e. that Odysseus’s heroic decision is the driving force for
all his further actions, the Odyssey deserves to be called, no less than the Iliad,
a “poem of life and death”.
In view of the fact that the author of the Odyssey decided to take Gilgamesh’s
unsuccessful quest for immortality as a model for the continuous, objective
narrative about Odysseus’s nostos, the issue of human mortality appears to be
even more central than we have hitherto been able to discern.
While Gilgamesh, terrified by the reality of death, unsuccessfully tries, with
all his strength to escape its snare and finally, resigned, returns to Uruk, Odys-
seus, having immortality at his fingertips and although during his visit to Ha-
des he has seen the terrible fate awaiting the dead, rejects it and triumphantly
returns to Ithaca. Odysseus’s nostos appears an inversion of Gilgamesh’s quest
for immortality. How much deeper then do Athena’s words sound that Odys-
seus, imprisoned on Calypso’s isle, “longs to die” (Od. I,59). We can therefore
confidently state that one of the main reasons for the Odyssey’s author’s use of
Gilgamesh was to portray Odysseus’s heroic choice even more clearly. The refer-
ence to Gilgamesh as a “poem of death” also sheds light on some of the motifs
in the Odyssey:

a) The episode of Odysseus’s sea journey from Ogygia to Scheria, and particu-
larly its second part, when problems arise, finds a parallel in Gilgamesh’s cross-
ing of the Waters of Death. However, while Gilgamesh cannot even touch the
water, Odysseus is wholly immersed in the sea. Within this parallel there is a
correspondence between Gilgamesh’s almost neurotic fear of touching water
and Odysseus’s total immersion in the maritime abyss. This correspondence
brings a symbolic dimension to Odysseus’s “baptism”. Using terminology from
the New Testament’s Letter to the Philippians, Odysseus’s union with the sea ap-
pears as a sort of kenosis. A few days earlier Odysseus “was in the form of God”
however he “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself”. Odysseus not only immerses himself in the “Waters of

58
Crane 1988, 16.

27
JAN M. KOZLOWSKI

Death” but also loses everything that could materially remind him of his stay
with the immortal Calypso.

b) At turning points of his nostos Odysseus, after having left the immortal Ca-
lypso, twice falls into a long sleep: the first time just after having arrived in
Scheria, and the second time on the Phaeacians’ ship which is carrying him to
Ithaca. In Dilmun, Gilgamesh fails the sleep test – if he wants to be immortal
he must show that he is able not to sleep for seven days, which is too much for
him. In light of the parallel between the two poems we can hear in Odysseus’s
sleep an echo of Gilgamesh’s having failed the sleep test. Odysseus’s sleep would
have a connection with his choice of mortal life and abandonment of Calypso
and his choice of mortal fate. It may be not without significance that the sleep
into which Odysseus falls on the Phaeacians’ ship is described as “most like
death” (Od. XIII,80).59

c) Scholars have observed that if Odysseus had remained on Ogygia, it would

have meant his death in the memory of future generations.60 If the hero had
decided to stay with Calypso forever, we would never have found out about his
journeys and adventures as told in the Apologoi, while Odysseus would never
have achieved “undying fame” (aphthiton kleos). In this perspective the name of
the nymph is meaningful (see note 34): as with a veil of oblivion she conceals
Odysseus from the human world. I have shown that the Apologoi correspond
narratively to the tale told to Gilgamesh by Uta-napishti, who, thanks to divine
help, not only saved himself from the cataclytic water but also received immor-
tality from the gods. Perhaps, therefore, the author of the Odyssey intended a
correspondence between the main content of the Uta-napishti tale, i.e. how he
obtained immortality, and the Apologoi. The tale recounted by Odysseus in the
court of Alcinous, by analogy with the narrative of Uta-napishti, would thus
appear, implicitly, as a story of how the hero achieved immortality, which is in
fact aphthiton kleos.

59
See, however, Il. XIV,231, where the Sleep is also described as the “brother of death”
(κασίγνητος Θανάτοιο). I am grateful to Prof. J. Danielewicz for this remark.
60
See, first of all, Vernant 1995.

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 GILGAMESH’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALIT Y AS A PATTERN FOR ODYSSEUS’S NOSTOS

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Summary

This article provides new support for the thesis that the author of the Odyssey
probably knew the Epic of Gilgamesh, arguing that the tripartite narrative of Odys­
seus’s return home (nostos) via Ogygia, Scheria, and Ithaca (Od. V,1–XIII,187)
reflects the tripartite scheme of the unsuccessful journey that Gilgamesh under-
took in pursuit of immortal life via Mashu, Dilmun, and Uruk (Gilg. IX–XI).

Keywords: Epic of Gilgamesh; Odyssey; narrative; intertextuality, immortality

JAN M. KOZLOWSKI
University of Warsaw
Institute of Classical Studies
Krakowskie Przedmieście 1
00-047 Warsaw, Poland
jan.kozlowski@uw.edu.pl

31
 EIRENE
STUDIA GR AECA ET LATINA
ISSN 0046-1628
Founded 1960

Eirene. Studia Graeca et Latina is an international refereed scholarly journal of classics

which is published by the Centre for Classical Studies at the Institute of Philosophy
of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. It welcomes and publishes original research
on classics, reception of Antiquity and classical traditions. It also brings up-to-date
reviews of scholarly literature on these subjects. ■ The journal accepts submissions
in English, German, French and Italian. All contributions (except for reviews) are
sent anonymously for peer-review. ■ Eirene. Studia Graeca et Latina is abstracted /
indexed in following scientific databases: L’année philologique; The Central European
Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (CEJSH); European Reference Index for
Humanities (ERIH PLUS); Modern Language Association International Bibliography;
Scopus; Web of Science; EBSCO. ■ For manuscript submission guidelines, contents
of previously published issues, and for possibility to publish selected articles in an
Open Access mode, please visit the journal’s homepage: http://www.ics.cas.cz/en/
journals/eirene. ■ All article submissions and subscription / exchange orders (back
issues are also available for purchase) are to be sent by e-mail to: eirene@ics.cas.cz.
Books for review and other correspondence should be mailed to:

Eirene. Studia Graeca et Latina

Centre for Classical Studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the
Czech Academy of Sciences
Na Florenci 3
110 00 Prague 1
Czech Republic
tel.: +420 234 612 330
fax: +420 222 828 305
 EIRENE
STUDIA GR AECA ET LATINA
LIV / 2018 / I–II

© Centre for Classical Studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the

Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

Prague 2018
ISSN 0046-1628

Ed itor-i n - ch ief
PETR KITZLER
Centre for Classical Studies,
Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

A ssista nt Ed itors
NEIL ADKIN (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) – JAN BAŽANT (Centre
for Classical Studies, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague) – JAN BOUZEK (Charles
University, Prague) – JAN N. BREMMER (University of Groningen) – KATHLEEN
M. COLEMAN (Harvard University) – SIEGMAR DÖPP (University of Göttingen)
– HERMANN HARRAUER (University of Vienna) – STEPHEN HARRISON
(Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford) – HERBERT HEFTNER (University
of Vienna) – BRAD INWOOD (Yale University) – IRENE J. F. DE JONG (University
of Amsterdam) – DAVID KONSTAN (New York University) – WALTER LAPINI
(University of Genova) – GLENN W. MOST (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa /
University of Chicago) – PAVEL OLIVA (Centre for Classical Studies, Czech Academy
of Sciences, Prague, emeritus) – JIŘÍ PAVLÍK (Charles University, Prague) – ROSARIO
PINTAUDI (University of Messina) – ILARIA L. E. RAMELLI (Angelicum – Sacred
Heart University – Oxford) – ALAN SOMMERSTEIN (University of Nottingham) –
DMITRY VL. TRUBOTCHKIN (Russian University of Theater Arts – GITIS, Moscow)

Ma nag i ng Ed itor
JAKUB ČECHVALA
Centre for Classical Studies, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

cover and graphic design © Markéta Jelenová

typesetting © Jana Andrlová
print © Karolinum Publishers
English proofreading Pavel Nývlt