Hesperìa, 37. Nuova serie periodica - 2/2020

Sicily and Italy in the Odyssey

The article reviews the arguments for seeing Temese (Od. I 184) and Alybas (XXIV 304) as Italian place names, and considers the significance of the Odyssey' s being bookended by putative references to fictitious voyages to and from Italy by Mentes and Eperitos respectively. Sicilians, moreover, cut intriguingly different figures in the poem. On the one hand, the Suitors think of Sicilians as ruthless slave-dealers (XX 383). On the other, Laertes relies on a devoted Sicilian woman (XXIV 211-12), and Odysseus pretends to a fervent guest-friendship with a man from Sicania (XXIV 303-14). The positive attitude of Odysseus and Laertes (and, by implication, of the poem' s narrator and narratee) towards Sicilians contrasts very suggestively with the negative attitude of the Suitors. It is, finally, suggested that Odysseus' encounters with monsters and man-eaters (the Cyclopes, the Laestrygonians, Skylla and Charbdis, Kirke) may already have been situated in Sicily and Italy prior to the Odyssey, and that the poet of the Odyssey purposely refrained from situating his monsters there. Thus the Odyssey-poet himself may have pointedly adopted a positive attitude to the heroic-age inhabitants of Sicily that contrasted with the negative attitude prevailing in his tradition. This putative decision not to demonize the inhabitants of Sicily may be the natural concomitant of a desire to show the home-grown Suitors of Ithaca as the real "monsters" of the Odyssey.

Scrivere la storia del mondo coloniale greco: concetti, materiali e prospettive

The aim of this article is to point out and debate some recent issues on the concept itself of Greek colonization. If this word is submitted to a deep criticism, other terms as diaspora which have been recently employed by scholars to substitute this problematical word sound even more unsatisfying. In the last part, the paper outlines some future directions of the colonial studies, crossing both economical and cultural developements.

Numana e la ceramica greca in età arcaica: stato degli studi e recenti acquisizioni

The present contribution aims to examine the network of relationships between Numana and the Greek world, considering the most recent researches. The chronological frame of reference is the archaic period, which offers a rich and articulated documentation consisting mainly on Attic vases, but also on pottery from other Greek centers. The analysis is mostly carried out on the basis of funerary documentation as well as on the examination of materials linked to their context, in order to investigate their usage as a cultural phenomenon and to understand historical and commercial aspects connected to the acquisition of such products.

Pitagora a Crotone? Indizi e suggestioni attraverso la testimonianza dei dati archeologici

There are many testimonies provided by various literary sources, albeit later, which ascertain the presence of Pythagoras in Kroton and his choice to establish a school here. However, no material documents provide direct evidence of this presence. Nevertheless, the proposed excursus aims to highlight implicit suggestions or confirmations from which it is possible to infer the reality of that cultural humus certainly capable of guaranteeing, at the turn of the 5th century B.C., the necessary premises for the work of the great samian sophos, whose doctrines were able to spread throughout the...