Homer’s Hippiad: From the First Deaths to the Last Word

Mules are the first deaths in the timeline of the poem; the last word of the poem is ἱπποδάμοιο, “breaker of horses.” In between, horses (and mules) share with men the experiences of battle, hard labor, and athletic excellence, and with women, being judged by their beauty, seized as spoils, and offered as prizes. They have names and pedigrees. They may be free or enslaved. They may be mortal, like most humans, or immortal, like gods and certain heroes. They may even have a share in that most human of behaviors, speech. What can we learn about the human actors in the poem by observing their equine counterparts?

Support for this project is provided in part by Princeton’s Departments of Classics and Comparative Literature, Humanities Council, Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University Public Lectures Committee, Program in Humanistic Studies, and the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies