Parodic inconsistency: some problems in the<i>Batrakhomyomakhia</i>

Abstract

Abstract: This article argues that several problems of character identification in the Batrakhomyomakhia should be considered not as matters of textual criticism, to be solved by emendation, excision or transposition, but as authentic features of the poem's parodic engagement with the text of Homer and its scholarship. This engagement comprises another reason for considering the Hellenistic period as the most likely terminus post quem for the poem.