ステシコロスの『ゲリュオン譚』

Abstract

Stesichorus'Geryoneis consists in its extant form of 12 fragments and its subject matters concerns Heracles'acquisition of the cattle of Geryon which is the tenth of the twelve Labours of Heracles in Greek mythology. Heracles, who subdued the monster Geryon in the frontier, is regarded as a hero in the Greek world, but it seems that Stesichorus did not compose this poem from the viewpoint of the hero Heracles, but from that of the defeated monster Geryon. In fragment S15 (P. Oxy. 2617 frr. 4+5 col.i, ii) the poet describes the winner Heracles as a cunning and cruel murderer and the loser Geryon as an incarnation of the ghastly beauty, using the simile of a poppy which suddenly sheds its petals, spoiling its beauty. It is needless to say that this simile is a conscious imitation of Homer, Il. 8.306-308. Stesichorus, as Quintilian says, is a poet, 'epici carminis onera lyra sustinens" (Inst. Or. 10.1.62), and his Geryoneis is a lyric poem that incorporates much epic material.