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Article: JOSEPH OF EXETER'S PAGAN GODS AGAIN.
- Article from:
- Medium Aevum
- Article date:
- March 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Some years ago in this journal, Hugh C. Parker described how the pagan gods function in Joseph of Exeter's Ylias.(1) Thetis, when drowning Orontes (V. 167-70) or searching for Achilles (v.381-4), is simply the sea. Aurora, when mourning Memnon (VI.370-4), is the dawn, whose tears are the dew. When Minerva restrains Achilles (VI.364-9), she is metonymic for wisdom. I would not disagree with any of this, and so it came as a surprise to find that my own words were one of the points d'appui for his argument. He quotes me as saying that Joseph `introduces pagan spirits and deities (Allecto in Book II, Juno and Athene in Book V) to motivate the action, much as Chaucer does with ...