Poetic and Geographical Organization in the Catalogue of Ships

Abstract

This paper argues that the town-by-town narratives of the Catalogue of Ships are organized according to the realities of local geography. The poet's methodical organization becomes apparent when lists of Catalogue sites are interpreted in light of two previously unnoticed units of oral compositional thought: syntactical and line-by-line groups, which frequently map onto local topographic features. In addition, we argue that the exceptional way that syntactical groups are used in the Boiotian contingent may suggest its origin in an oral-traditional Thebaid.